All I Really Know Is
by RobynMaureen
Summary: ...There's Something In Your Heart. Let me introduce myself: I'm Robyn, a 19 yr old student and my story starts off with a drunken night out, but will my prince charming remain a perfect stranger, or is there more than meets the eye?  An xFactor/ Aiden Grimshaw fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Jealousy is an ugly colour on anyone.  
>Perfection is the usual cause.<br>It's a ridiculous aim, & that's just common knowledge.  
>But striving for something better is all part of who we are.<p>

From the outside looking in, you could say that my life is one to be envied. What with me being the typical skinny, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl most strive to be. Even digging deeper with the close nit family bonds every one sees, as well as being the middle child and the only girl. But let's not forget best friends anyone could ask for.

In reality however, no one knows what's going on behind closed doors. Things may seem to be perfect in people's lives that actually cause anger & hurt. But it's not until you learn what is really going on that you find that the closest thing to perfection anyone can find is happiness. Not for a lifetime or even for a month, just that one particular moment in time where there's no regrets, no envy, just pure joy.

Seeing the one person that you figured to be the cause of such a thing in your lifetime, plastered in front of you at every possibility, whether it's merely a coincidence or some sick joke, it hurts. The sheer volume of hate, jealousy & rage you never thought you'd be able to feel at all, never mind towards _them_ are just overwhelming. It's all you can focus on. But what can you do but grin & bear it? When the only person you were ever able to talk honestly & completely to is the one causing you this unbearable hurt & pain?

I wouldn't call it heart ache, because refuse to believe I fell that hard that fast. Somewhere deep down I feel it though; although I shan't admit it to myself. I'm not ready for that step yet. But nevertheless, there should be no one else they would even look at, never mind consider to take my place beside him, as bitter & twisted as that sounds. For the short amount of time we knew each other, I thought he understood me fully and more so than even myself. I guess I couldn't have been more wrong. Of all the men, in all the world, it HAD to be him, and he HAD to walk in to the same club as me that night; the one that I couldn't escape from, no matter how much of a recluse I turned myself into.

I've accepted my fate after what people are claiming to be 'major drama'. After those unexpected occurrences, and my inability to cope with stress of it all, I've resorted back to my usual pessimistic habits. So for the rest of my life I know I'm going to be stuck in a horrible office job that I can't stand. And all I'll have to keep me warm at night is my multitude of cats, my dead dreams, and a distant far off memory of the closest thing to perfection I managed to find for myself.

I still deny this is what people call love, but here is my story…


	2. Chapter 2

And we have contact with Mr Quiff! I'm not sure on the actual story line as of yet. Hopefully you'll bare with me, if anyone's reading that is!

* * *

><p>It all started with a general drunken night out, a reunion of friends and a celebration of the end of yet another year of full time education. It was the end of first year at university for Jenni and I, and Mollie had just finished her diploma in floristry. Katie on the other hand, being 5 years older as well as Mollie's older sister was just tagging along for the alcohol fuelled break of being a full time nanny. We weren't the stereotypical drunken students. Sure we go out, get drunk, and fail to remember what happened the next day. But we like to think of ourselves as somewhat sensible, by limiting the nights out per month not per pay check. As well as the fact that we consider ourselves too clean and well fed to be the typical students most people think about.<p>

I was just heading home after a short trip to Tesco for the pre-drink. Wouldn't you know I'd be the one who had to troop across town to get alcohol for everyone else. Not that I can complain really, Jenni's been stuck with the job of tidying up the house. That's something no one wants to do! Loaded with bottles of beer, vodka, and cheap wine, I clinked my way down the street earning funny looks from passers by.

I unlocked the front door, while struggling to not break any f the glass bottles I was carrying, and stumbled into the hall. "Jenni! Little help please?" I shouted as I set the bags on the floor in the kitchen.

"She's in the shower, what do you need a hand with?" Meeky said appearing from upstairs. He's Jenni's boyfriend, and I swear he's here more often than I am! I may need to start charging him rent...

Without me having to explain, he lifts the bags of drink from me and walks into the kitchen. I follow to see him putting the beer and wine in the fridge. "Anything to avoid tidying up, eh?" I laughed while opening the vodka and began to mix it with the orange, cranberry juice with peach schnapps, in order to finish preparing the 'sex on the beach' cocktails. After that was done, I'd made my way into the font room. And just as I as setting up the docking system to play some music from my iPod, the front door flew open. "Oh I wonder who that could be…" I thought to myself.

"Helloo?" Mollie shouted as she sauntered through the small hall and into the front room, this was practically her second home. "Where's the drink at?"

"Are you forgetting the benefits I get from having an ex-barman as a boyfriend?" Jenni laughed as she made appeared from upstairs in fluffy dressing gown and wet hair. "All we have is drink! We haven't bought food in days, I'm starving!" she exaggerated as she made her way over to where Meeky was now seated.

"Ehh, speak for yourself there Jenni, I went grocery shopping this morning. You just haven't bothered paying your half yet" I jokingly spat at her. She grinned back at me and waved at Katie and Benjamin, Mollie's siblings, who were now walking in.

Katie and Benjamin, are Mollie's siblings. Katie's 24 and Benjamin's 21. They all trooped through the hall with their bags, standing there awkwardly as if they'd never been in my house before.

"Hello you lot, dump your crap where ever. We need to get drinking! And glammed up of course" I said and laughed at the faces both Benjamin and Meeky pulled, obviously at the thought of being stuck in the house with a bunch of girls getting ready for a night out.

"Oh, and while we're upstairs doing that, one of you can phone and book the taxi." Jenni's grinned at Meeky as she left the room and made her way upstairs.

"Good idea, make it for about 10 though. We've a lot of drink to get through before we leave! The drunker we are when we leave, the less we spend at the club" Katie commented as she lifted her bags and followed Jenni upstairs, with Mollie following suit.

"Right well I guess I'm being the waitress then!" I said to myself whilst rolling my eyes and then made my way into the kitchen. I left the beer in with the boys and carried the rest of the drink upstairs for us girls, we all finally started getting ready.

A couple of hours and a lot of alcohol later, everyone had bundled out of the taxi we were all now paying our way into the club and making our way to the bar. Mollie was dressed in a short strapless black lace dress with matching heels and purse, and had her long blonde hair styled in ringlets. Jenni was dressed similarly but her dress was asymmetrical and one sleeved, with her shoulder length brown hair straightened and back combed. Katie had a loose cream blouse on, with a black bondage skirt on and cream heels and her long light brown hair diffused. I'd decided to go for a loose blue flowery top, with a black bondage skirt with blue heels with ladybugs on, and had my hair styled similarly to Mollie. The boys just had shirts and jeans on, the simplicity of being a man!

"Here, get me a drink while I go pee" Mollie smiled at Katie and handed her some money.

"No! I'm dying to go as well" She wined back. Jenni nodded along, in agreement with her.

"Fine, here" Mollie said handing Benjamin enough money for the first round of drinks. "Get us 3 a double vodka and red bull, and whatever you're having. Oh, and get us a booth behind the bar as well." She ordered before turning to Katie and Jenni and stumbling along towards the toilets with them.

"Right, 3 vodkas, 2 beers, and a sex on the beach" I rhymed off. I snatched the money off of Benjamin, shoved him and Meeky to the booth Mollie had pointed out, and I headed towards the bar.

It was around 10.30pm and the club was still pretty quiet, so getting quick bar service wasn't an issue. It also allowed me to spot a group of fellas that I longed to avoid. It was Mollie's ex and all of his friends. I wasn't a fan at the beginning of their relationship, but his friend Stevie or 'The Bull' as he called himself completely creeped me out. He was not only a right loser, but one of these short and chubby fellas that thought they were the dog's bollocks. That and he'd decided that I was his next victim. I'd collected my change, grabbed the drinks that I ordered and hurried over to the boys. On my way back to the bar, I sent a quick text to Mollie explaining the situation. As I was putting my BlackBerry away in my clutch bag, I risked a glance towards Kenny. Bad move! Stevie had begun to walk towards the bar, just to the spot where the rest of our drinks were sat. Great!

Figuring that I could just sneak up, grab the drinks and hurry back I stopped at gap at the bar to gather myself together before I went into action. With a deep breath, I was on the move again with my fists clenched, mind completely focused. So focused in fact, that I managed to walk straight into someone, and smash a glass. "Ugkhh, just my luck" I mumbled as I looked up ready to apologise.

"Excuse me?" His deep voice questioned, as his face mirrored my look of annoyance.

"I'm sorry, I really need to look where I'm going" I giggled, trying to lighten the mood to quicken the embarrassment so I could try and face Stevie and collect my drinks.

"Yea, and learn some manners" He sneered, while running a hand through his imperfectly styled quiff. I glared at him.

"I have apologised, and managed to stay somewhat civilised. The least you could do was accept that it was an accident and move on" I scoffed. I risked another glance at the bar, yeaup he was still there. "Now if you don't mind, I have a creep to avoid" I stated as I pushed my way past him and stormed off towards the bar yet again.

"Oi, the least _you_ could do is buy me another drink!" He yelled after me. I ignored him, and continued on.

I hadn't bumped into the ignorant quiff wearer again, and I managed to not spill or loose anymore drinks. The night was going well! Mollie had decided on ignoring Kenny, as I had done with Stevie, While Jenni and Meeky had chosen to do the opposite and hang out with them instead. We figured out that they both knew Kenny was going to the same club as us; see, the thing I haven't explained is that Kenny and Jenni are cousins. We got over it, the alcohol being pumped into system helping us forget any issues we were having. The 4 of us were on the dance floor; Benjamin attempting to dance awkwardly, Mollie and Katie were stumbling and giggling, while I was happily dancing in a little bubble of my own.

The song changed to one we didn't recognise, so we headed off to the bar. Well Benjamin and I did, the other 2 wandered off to the toilets again. With 2 less drinks to get, we decided upon some shots, 2 each to be exact, red aftershock then a jagerbomb, as always. We were 1 shot down, the horrid tasting liquid burning down my throat, causing me to pull a very attractive face as you can imagine. I was pouring the red bull into the 2nd shots, as I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I stiffened, and turned around to get Benjamin to shake them off to find that he had lifted his next shot and was now talking to a group of girls standing near the bar. Just great! I took a deep breath, trying and failing to push the hands off as I turned to find Stevie smirking at me and leaning against the bar. And I was doing so well avoiding him!

"How many times? I'm not interested! Leave me alone and stalk someone else" I stated, my face showing my frustration. He stood up straight, still smirking, and took a step in my direction with his face getting closer to mine. I stepped back, stretching my neck back in an attempt to add distance to his face. Panic beginning to creep up on me. He had been trying it on with me ever since Kenny and Mollie had started dating, nothing to serious just the odd comment at first. it was worse on group nights out though. And he'd been drinking this time; I could smell it off him a mile off. The look in his eyes was one I'd seen before, the only difference being that this time determination was set deep in his stare. Then my back hit something.

"So bumping into me once tonight wasn't enough for you then?" They sniggered. I recognised that deep voice, it was going to be my way out of this. He had to be, even if there was more alcohol in their system than I guessed would be helpful. I couldn't turn though with this creep's arms forever tightening their grip on me. And I couldn't risk taking my eyes off him, who was now pressed right up against me, his lips closing in. I twisted my arm so it bent behind my back and grabbed their arm, with too much grip than required at any other social situation. I put their arm on the only part of my waist that wasn't being crushed, and turned to him with nothing but blind panic plastered on my face. He _had_ to get me out of this! "Hey, what's wrong?" He said, as he thankfully sobered up slightly. Even during me failing to fend off this utter cretin, I was still able to notice the attractiveness of the fella I'd managed to offend at the start of the night.

"This has nothing to do with you, run along there, Doll Face" Stevie scorned, as he drunkenly turning me around to face him again. I squirmed, struggling to free myself, still gripping onto the other fellas arms that was somehow still on my waist.

"Cool it, she's clearly not interested. Why don't you just leave her alone?" He stated, staying calm yet firm. He'd pulled me back and stood in front of me. Stevie staggered loosing his grasp on me, he was clearly intoxicated. Anger clear in his eyes, and his fists clenched. While I was free, I'd turned to try and spot any of my friends to help with my current predicament. My eyes only found Kenny, and he was heading this way.

"Oi Bull! Leave poor Big Mac alone would you? There's gunna be way better clunge in the next club anyway" Kenny laughed, glaring at me and putting an arm on Stevie's shoulder. I pulled a face of disgust at the term he used to describe girls. Stevie shrugged the arm off, before taking one more look at me and storming off towards the exit. "I really don't get what he see's in you, Big Mac." Kenny said with a sneer to his voice, as he shook his head at me before following Stevie out of the club. I always hated him, and that nick name.

I took a deep breath, as I leaned against the bar with my head in my hands. I certainly wasn't in the mood for any more alcohol; what ever I'd been drinking with Benjamin definitely wasn't influencing me anymore. A hand placed itself on my shoulder, and a flinched back from it, forgetting that I was in anybody's company. The same arms that had just saved me then lifted me from my slouch against the bar, and pulled me into a strong hug. I knew this chest; I'd bumped into it enough times tonight that I wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon. I wrapped my arms around them, still not knowing his actual name. "Thank you" I mumbled into his chest.


	3. Chapter 3

We were now sitting in the booths behind the bar, where only an hour ago I was sat thinking this night out was going to be the best yet. This seating was his idea; he'd grabbed my hand and led me here. If it was up to me I'd be out searching for my friends and ringing a taxi to get home. Neither of us had spoken since Stevie and Kenny had stormed off. I hadn't felt the need to, but surely with the amount of alcohol I'd consumed I would be able to shrug it off and continue on with my night. Especially seeing as I was almost used to this kind of incident, especially since Stevie kept trying it with me. I just never thought he'd get quite so worked up. I guess not. The silence from the perfect stranger however, was unknown to me.

After I'd gathered my thoughts, I figured it best to try and find the drunkards that are my friends. They're more than likely on the dance floor, or in the toilets what with the affects of alcohol on bladders. I removed my hand from his grasp upon the table, took a deep breath and stood up. He took his hand off the table and looked up at me.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he furrowed his eyebrows, with concern showing in his eyes.

"I can't sit about here for the rest of the night, I need to find my friends" I said, glancing at on my phone. It was too early to make them leave but I couldn't stay here, my good mood had gone. "And Figure out how to get home. Even if _he's_ gone, I'm not staying here." I said, with more irritation than I'd intended.

"Ok, I'll help you look" he said showing a smile, with hints of concern growing in his eyes again. "Two pairs of eyes are better than one after all." He said with the slight smile turning into a cheesy smirk, trying to cover the worry in his eyes, while running a hand through his imperfect quiff.

"Considering you don't even know what my friends look like, I'm sure you're going to be a useless second pair of eyes" I half laughed, as I rolled my eyes and started towards the dance floor. He followed. "You know, for someone you don't even know, you sure don't want to leave me alone" I said as we began pushing our way through the crowds and onto the dance floor.

"Well, you could describe them to me. Then I'd kind of know and able to help" He said, grabbing my hand so he wouldn't loose me amongst the clubbers. "And I was always told never to leave a pretty girl all on her lonesome." He smirked. Something told me I wasn't supposed to get rid of him.

"Fine, seeing as you're going to stalk me around here anyways you could at least try to help. You first task is to find Mollie. She should be easy to spot 'cause she looks just like me. We find her the rest should be somewhere nearby" I smiled, almost yelling in his ear, due to the music being too loud for me to speak normally and still be heard.

We wandered around the dance floor, hand in hand, with no sign of anyone I knew. So I headed for the bars, the perfect stranger in tow. If they aren't dancing, they're bound to be drinking. I decided on checking the back bar first, and wouldn't you know there they all were, standing in a huddle with shots in hand having the time of their lives. I stopped walking as I looked at them, and I felt him bump into me from my sudden halt. I turned to him, running over how I'd be able to get him away before the girls spotted him and started playing 20 questions.

"There they are" I said as I nodded in their direction. "Thanks for staying with me and getting rid of... Well know know." I trailed off, not wanting to go over the situation just yet. I looked at him, hoping he'd understood what I'd meant. He nodded and smiled.

"Glad I could help. Are you sure you're going to be ok?" He questioned with concern growing in his eyes again, as well as placing a hand on my shoulder in what I guessed what was supposed to be comfort.

"Yea, I'm just going to head home now. My good nights been ruined. I'll tell them I don't fell well or something. They don't need to know about anything" I said, looking to my friends who were now pulling faces at the liquid they'd just downed, and ordering another round. "And if they don't want to leave yet, I'm sure I can get a taxi on my own, no big deal" I shrugged, shaking his hand off of my shoulder in the process. I looked back at him as he tried to cover a hint of upset in his eyes. "But thanks again…" I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence. After all that had happened I still didn't know his name.

"Oh, I'm Aiden" He smiled, shaking my hand as if we'd just met. "And forget about it, I'm just glad I was there to make him shove off and leave you in peace" he said, anger briefly flaring in his eyes. He blinked it away, running a hand through his quiff again. "But why don't we exchange digits so you can let me know when you get home safe," he said handing me his phone. I typed my number into his BlackBerry as I handed him mine. We then hugged, well he hugged me first, my arms responded automatically before I was able to process what had happened, and we then said our goodbyes. He turned and headed towards the front bar. I watched him leave. There was something about him that I couldn't quite figure out, but that definitely wasn't the last time we were going to bump into each other.

I sighed and began my short walk over to where everyone had been standing, gaining a 'where did you disappear to' look from Benjamin and Katie. I shrugged and made my ill excuse, hoping to get them to leave and avoid any questions. The look on their faces told me their answers before words were spoken, figures.

"Are you sure you need to leave? Maybe you just need a bit of fresh air and some water" Jenni said, her words running together slightly. With that and the concentration in her eyes to get the words out were clearly showing the alcohol was catching up with her. Everyone nodded along with her, obviously not going without a fight.

"Here, I need a break here to, we'll go to the smokers bit and see how you feel then" Mollie smiled, linking her arm with mine and dragging me outside without giving me a chance to complain. We sat against the wall outside, away from everyone else. "Now, what's really wrong with you?" She questioned. Even whilst this intoxicated, she knows me inside out.

"Nothing, honestly I'm just feeling a bit run down, I'll be fine in the morning when I sleep it off." I rambled off, avoiding eye contact. I didn't want to get into the whole Stevie situation, especially with Mollie. With her being his best friends ex, and her encouraging him to chase me, things couldn't end well.

"Uh huh" She said, as she squinted her eyes at me and folded her arms, "I'll drop it for now, but you _will_ tell me!" she said sternly, pointing her finger in my face for added effect. That I couldn't doubt, she'll remember this even with her being this drunk, and she won't give up until I spill. "Now!" She smiled, linking arms with me again and leaning her back against the wall again. "Have you spotted any decent fellas in this dump?"

"Only you would go from serious as hell to talent spotting in less than 5 seconds!" I laughed. "And to answer your question, I've seen a couple of fella's that aren't too bad" I winked, laughing as my mood lightened.

"Well, love, you know me!" she grinned. "Oohh! I feel a story coming along! Do tell!" She was now standing away from the wall, gripping onto my shoulder making my stand straight in front of her, and practically bouncing on the spot. I rolled my eyes as I looked at her. I was about to start into bumping into Aiden, leaving out the Stevie incident, when I was interrupted by a familiar voice from behind me.

"Oh I love a bit of gossip! Please tell all Babes!" Aiden giggled, putting on a girly voice and imitating Mollie. I turned, leaning my back against the wall again. I raised my eyebrows in speculation, and giggled along him. Leavng Mollie with a rather confused look in her face.

"Are you stalking me now or something? I swear every time I turn around your standing there!" I laughed. "Oh wait, I know what it is! You think I still owe you a drink?"

"I think you're the one stalking me actually, and I don't think. I know! You made me drop spill it, so you owe me!" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at me. "And don't worry, I'll get a beer out of you some how." He winked, lighting up a cigarette.

"Ehh… As much I'm love listening in on this conversation, Robyn dear, but would you mind telling me who the hell this is?" Mollie interrupted, eyebrows raised.

"Oh my God, I totally forgot about you there!" I laughed, holding a hand over my mouth in shock. "This is Aiden" I smiled, gesturing to the quiff wearer beside me. "He's _not_ of the guys I was going to tell you about before we were rudely interrupted!" I said, as I glared at him.

"Ohh! Bu-urn!" He exclaimed, holding a hand over his chest is fake shock. "You know what, I reckon you just can't get enough of me, that's why you're following me every where tonight" He winked at me, with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Oh definitely! That'd explain it…" I said sarcastically, and rolled my eyes. "Especially seeing as you're the one turning up in places where I'm already at" I highlighted.

"I just can't stay away from such a pretty face!" He teased. "Anyway, I'm sure you'd rather have me following you about the place than that other creep… What's his name again?" He trailed off, hints of anger and distaste appearing on his face. I cleared my throat, stared him straight in the eye and nodded slightly in Mollies direction. Hoping he'd understand that I didn't want her knowing. He caught on. His eyes widened, his face pulling into one of slight shock and awkwardness. He simply, turned so his back was leaning against the wall beside me avoiding eye contact, and continued smoking.

"What creep? Robyn, what happened when you wandered off?" Mollie questioned, staring at me expectantly. Looks like it's too late to hide it, I'd be better of altering the truth at this rate. As long as I kept to the same story and Aiden stayed shut. I glared at him, as he continued to play innocent, and turned to Mollie be explain.

"No one, some fella at the bar wouldn't leave me be, and Aiden here fended him off. No big whoop, honestly" I said, hoping she'd drop anymore questions. She pursed her lips, and raised an eyebrow at me. She didn't believe me; from that look I could tell she knew I was hiding something. I smiled at her, as I hoped she'd leave it now and question me later, when I'm not being stalked by my perfect stranger. She sighed and shrugged. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders at her response.

"Fair enough, thanks for saving my twin there quiffy" She smiled, nudging him with her below. "Now of you don't mind, its bloody freezing out here I'm beginning to sober up!" She said, being overly dramatic as always, and began to walk off. She stopped just behind Aiden, so only I could see her. She pulled a face of approval, thumbs up and a wink included. She then strutted off inside to find the others. I laughed and shook my head at her antics.

"Twin?" He questioned. I laughed at him, forgetting he wasn't included in the joke of a nickname Mollie and I have.

"It's what we call each other, 'cause we look so similar, more so than Mollie and her actual sister. But don't worry, we're not really related." I explained, as he nodded his head in understanding.

A few minutes passed, neither of us feeling the need to say anything. Either that or we were just too awkward and stubborn to be the one to start a conversation. One of us better say something soon, I'm feeling frost bite coming along from standing out here for so long. I stood up from leaning against the wall, and crossed my arms, rubbing my hands up and down them attempting to generate some heat. Aiden then dropped his cigarette, stood on it and shoved his hands in his pockets. We were both so social it was unreal…

"Oi, Robyn!" I heard someone yell from the door of the smokers' area. I turned to find Benjamin standing there, looking at me. "We're getting more shots in, are you joining us or are you still playing ill?" He shouted over, nodding his head in Aiden's direction. I turned my head briefly to look at him; he was staring at his shoes looking rather discarded. I rolled my eyes, and sighed.

"Yea, I'm coming now. We're going soon though, I'm skint and its gunna be hell for a 7-seater taxi after closing" I shouted back, he disappeared back inside.

"Thought you were going home? Or was that just a reason to get rid of me?" Aiden said, still staring at his shoes; a hint of rejection filtering through his attempt to remain cocky.

"I did try, they're hard to persuade when they're this drunk." I said, "They all refused, and Mollie dragged me out here for a chat to cheer me up and you appeared. And even if I was trying to get rid of you, I'm clearly not doing a very good job if it!" I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. He looked up from his feet and into my eyes, as if he was searching for legitimacy. He must have found it, as he smiled and shrugged. "Now, fancy some shots? After all, I do owe you a drink" I winked at him as I grabbed his arm and dragged him inside and towards the back bar, where I was guessing everyone still would be standing.

And, they were no where to be seen! I sighed, ruffling my hair. "I swear, they love wandering off and leaving me. Its like they're playing hide and seek!" I exclaimed. Aiden laughed, as he removed his arms from my grasp and held onto my hand instead. I smiled at him, as I took my phone from my bra and began to ring Benjamin to see where he disappeared off to. The shocked look on Aiden's face from that action was hilarious! You'd think the male species would get over us girls using bras as extra pockets… Or not! "What?" I laughed, "It won't fit in my bag, and I've no pockets" I explained. He laughed and shook his head, as he ran his free hand through his quiff. I held my phone to my ear, and dragged him towards the front bar hoping Benjamin would pick up or we'd bump into him at least. Ah! He's answered his phone!

"Hello? Benjamin! Where are you?" I questioned him, beginning to panic slightly as I couldn't spot him at this bar either.

"Ohh, finally decided to join in with the drinking!" He slurred. "We're all in the booths behind the bar. Get us more shots though, would ye? We've ran out" His country accent beginning to shine through as he spoke. There was laughing and cheering in the background from everyone, and then he hung up. I sighed, looks like I'm playing bar maid again.

"Ok, I've to get another round in. It seems we waited to long to join them!" I laughed. "You'd think saying I was broke would mean they'd stop asking me to buy drinks, they're bloody lucky I was lying!" I said, laughing yet again, as I pushed my way through the crowds to the bar to order, with Aiden in tow.

This was going to be a messier night than I'd planned. Better than I expected, but definitely messier.


	4. Chapter 4

I awoke the next morning, groaning as I turned to face the other side of my double bed and tried to get back to sleep. I was feeling drained, groggy and seriously dehydrated. The usual symptoms after the amount we all ended up drinking, but I was hangover free other than that, as usual. Although it's all bound to catch up on me one day, when I'll wake up with a headache from hell and an overly queasy stomach. Until then, I'll keep on going.

I was trying to remember the events of last night, after we'd decided to down way too many shots. I was beginning to pull together the start of the night, with the events involving Stevie and Aiden. I felt the bed move as weight shifted from the other side of my bed. Eyes still closed, my eyebrows furrowed, struggling to remember who I was with last night that could've possibly made it back to mine and into my bed. See, I don't bring boys home; I'm not that type of girl. At the age of nineteen, I've yet to even get a boyfriend never mind invite have a fella over for a night! My thoughts were interrupted as the unknown person groaned.

"Ugkh, Robyn, what time is it?" They mumbled their voice raspy as they were probably as dehydrated as I was. I sighed at the sound of the voice that was too feminine to belong to any guy that a drunken me would've brought home. I flipped onto my back, looking up at the ceiling and laughed lightly before lifting my phone from the nightstand to check the time.

"It's just past half 11" I mumbled back, noticing that I had a couple of new messages and a missed call from last night. Mehh, I'll check them later "And why are you in my bed anyway?" I questioned, as I looked over at the hung over mess that was Mollie.

"I have _no_ idea, I didn't even manage to get changed into proper jammies last night, never mind picking out a bed" she shrugged, showing me her wearing some of the clothes I'd left on my floor while getting ready last night. She then rolled over and rubbed her face, smudging her make up even more. "Now where's my breakfast?" She grinned at me; it was more of a statement than a question. I sighed, rolling out of bed and grabbing a change of clothes.

"In the kitchen, waiting to be made probably" I said, as I headed out the door and into the bathroom to attempt to shower off the dirty, groggy feeling I always get on the morning after the night before.

I'd headed downstairs after my shower, wearing a demin skirt with leggings, a flowery top and a cardigan. I decided on just blow drying my hair straight, and the usual light make up. I wandered into the kitchen, flicking the kettle on, putting bread into the toaster, and grabbing a packet of pain killers before heading into the front room where everyone was sitting, mugs in hand and faces blank. I sat on the arm of the sofa, next to Benjamin dropping the paracetamol onto his lap to pass around the more than likely hung over group, and listened on their attempts to remember what exactly happened last night.

"I can piece together bits of the night, but it's all really fuzzy" Jenni said, sitting on top of Meeky on the single sofa. "Meeky and I were with Kenny, then they all left… And I don't remember you being there a lot, Robyn." She said, raising an eyebrow and staring at me. "Then there were quite a lot of shots, and some fella was with us… and then its blank" she shrugged, lifting her mug and downing its contents. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off for a shower." She said as she stood, grabbing Meeky's hand and dragging him upstairs.

"Oh yea, I forgot about him!" Katie exclaimed, as she turned from her spot on the floor to look at me. "Who was he? Seemed to be all over you" She said, raising an eyebrow at me, as well as encouraging the story from me. I shrugged, glancing over at Mollie who would no doubt remember most of last night, including our conversation outside. She sat on the far end of the sofa, staring at the muted TV, trying to avoid the conversation. "Ohh come on, Robyn! You're bound to remember something about him! Every time I turned around he was like beside you, I swear!" She exclaimed, yet again, pushing for more information.

"I can't say I noticed, honestly!" I said, holding my hands up in mock innocence, my voice increasing in pitch slightly, giving away my calm façade. Once I slipped up and gave out any form of information about him, she'd pounce on the chance for more details. If she found out about Aiden, then soon the Stevie situation would be brought up and I wasn't ready to go about sharing that just yet. "Now, who wants more tea?" I asked, smiling as I stood from the arm of the sofa. No one answered, so I assumed they didn't want. I turned and headed into the kitchen to finish making my breakfast.

"What's with the secrets, Robyn?" Mollie questioned as she entered the kitchen, shutting the door behind her and walking up to me and leaning against the worktop.

"What secrets?" I asked, still trying to playing innocent. I glanced over at her, from my spot in front of the toaster, by the look on her face she wants buying it. "Look, I just don't want every one knowing. I explained what happened at the bar last night when we were outside, Aiden just so happened to be on the other side of me and fended the fella off. What more do you need to know?" I ranted out, being more annoyed than I'd planned. She knew there was more to it than that, she had to. This is Mollie for Christ's sake! As suspected, she continued questioning me.

"Fellas have tried it with you before, and you've always been more than capable of fending them off alone. How come this time, you needed help?" She urged. She wasn't going to let up; she knew I couldn't keep secrets for the life of me. But if she found out that it was Stevie that wouldn't leave me be she would only blame herself. After all, she was always rather protective of me - what with me being the shy, timid girl at school, the one that never spoke. Mollie spoke for me, fended off bullies when I didn't have the courage to. She only encouraged him to try harder, thinking that I was only playing hard to get due to my shyness.

"I didn't need help, Aiden was just there and he noticed me getting some unwanted attention and thought he could play hero" I said, before taking a bite of my now buttered toast. "Turns out I didn't need it, the creep of a fella's friend showed up and dragged him off after throwing a comment at me" I looked up from the counter to her face. It was covered in worry and suspicion. "Honestly, Mollie, I'm fine. I was fine. You don't have to worry, nothing happened. It was just some drunken twat that wouldn't take no for an answer" I said, almost pleaded to her, hoping to her calm down. She sighed, a sign that she was giving up questioning me. Well, for now any way.

"Ok, ok. I can't help but worry though, you know what I'm like" she shrugged. "But what about this Aiden fella, did you get his number?" she hinted, nudging me with a playful smile on her face. She was back to her normal self, the worry being covered up for the moment. I laughed, and nodded.

"Yea, I got it. I haven't spoken to him though. Speaking of numbers, I think I'd better find my phone! Make sure I'm not accidently ignoring anyone and not texting them back" I laughed, grabbing a slice of toast and my mug of tea and heading upstairs to get my BlackBerry.

I wandered into the obstacle course that was now my room, the mess my friends leave behind them is ridiculous! That's more cleaning to do today then. I started grabbing the items lying about my room that weren't mine, clothing, shoes, bags, make up, you'd think they were moving in not staying for a night. I set them all in neat piles on the floor in front of my wardrobe, after spending around 5 minutes tidying up. I case you haven't noticed, I hate mess, it stresses me out so I have to be organised.

I sat on my bed, lifting my phone and started flicking through my messages on my phone. I deleted my junk emails, skipped my missed calls, and started on my texts. FaceBook and Twitter notifications, one from my Mum about dinner, and a couple from Aiden; I replied to my Mum first, saying when I'll be over later. Ever since I moved out, I've been going home every other Sunday afternoon for a 'proper dinner' as Mother calls it and a catch up. My older brother comes too, but he thinks of it as more of free dinner and laundry trip than a family get together.

I flicked over the social networking texts, just status updates and location tagging. To avoid reading any messages from Aiden, I checked my missed calls. I had 2: one from Benjamin at around the time Aiden had saved me and Benjamin had wandered off on me; and one from Aiden himself. From the time, I'm guessing it was from after I'd left the club for the night.

I sighed, giving up on stalling and decided to just bite the bullet and read his texts. As I probably should've guessed, most of them were illegible due to his alcohol consumption. From the drunkenly typed numbers, I could just about make out the meaning of a couple of his messages. One was about me leaving to early, and another I unscrambled to say that I looked 'well fit'. I laughed silently, and shook my head as I scrolled down to the most recent text from him. It was legible, seeing as it was from a couple of hours ago.

'_Hey :) Sorry about my drunken messages last night, my phone has a mind of its own. Oh, and ignore any voicemails you get please. I don't want to know what I was talking about… x'_ – Aiden

I laughed, shaking my head again at his drunkenness. I'm a bad influence on him, well my friends and I am, seeing as it wasn't my idea to do shots in the first place.

'_Hiyaa :) Haha, no worries! They're actually quite funny, but I haven't got any voicemails yet. I look forward to them ;) x'_ – Robyn

After sending Aiden a quick reply, I grabbed my mug of tea from my bed side table and stood to make my way back downstairs. Before I could leave my room however, Jenni walked in fully dressed and ready for the day. She shut the door behind her.

"I'm just off the phone with Kenny" she said, eyebrows raised and hands on her hips. This wasn't going to be good news. "He says him and Stevie had a run in with you last night" She practically questioned, moving from the door to sit on the chair at my desk.

"Oh, can't say I remember talking to him. What exactly did he say about this run in?" I asked as I sat back down on my bed. Playing innocent yet again, this is too many times in one morning for my liking.

"Well, he said you were talking to Stevie at the bar, flirting and getting real close and whatnot. When some pansy boy interrupted and accused him of pestering you, so he kicked off. Apparently Kenny had to break it up and drag Stevie away." She said, raising her eyebrows at me again. I sighed. Seeing as her and Kenny were cousins, it was going to be difficult to get her to believe the actual series of events, and not his twisted version of it all.

"That's total bull!" I scoffed. She lent forward in her chair, and stared at me questioningly.

"Oh really, I thought you couldn't remember bumping into them?" she enquired, resting her head on her hands and tilting her head.

"Fine" I sighed, "I do remember! But it's not something I want to talk about." I said, standing up and making my bed, trying to act busying to avoid further questioning. She sunk back into the chair, folding her arms and a sulk.

"Oh please, it couldn't have been that bad! It's only Stevie for Christ's sake! He wouldn't hurt a fly!" She exclaimed, flailing her arms about before folding them once again. I sat back down on my bed, and sighed. I rested my head in my hands and rubbing my forehead in aggravation.

"Ok, you really want to know what happened? I'll tell you, seeing as you need to hear both sides of a story before choosing to believe your best friend _and_ your room mate over your druggy of a cousin!" I yelled at her, I'd had enough of this. I couldn't take anymore of my friends thinking that I'm just being stupid and childish for not going anywhere near Stevie. I always thought he was a right creep, never as stubborn and forceful as last night, but I knew he wasn't quite normal. It's not even as if I never voiced these opinions either, I did at almost every opportunity I got. Did they listen? No! I was just playing 'hard to get' apparently! "I'm not repeating this, so get your head out of the arse and get downstairs so everyone can hear this. And I swear, this time you better believe me when I say I will _never_ go anywhere near Stevie." I hissed at her, as she sat completely shocked at my outburst. I stood, glaring at her and stormed out of my room, phone in hand, and went downstairs to sit in the front room. I waited for Jenni to gather everyone. Mollie was first through the door; she sat beside me on the sofa, glancing at me with concern filled eyes. She could tell what I was going to share, knowing part of the story which I explained to her last night.

"Robyn, what's going on?" Katie asked, confusion written across her face, as she sat in her previous position on the floor. I looked over to Jenni, raising my eyebrows as if to say that she could inform them of this meeting. She sunk further into Meeky, as she sat across his lap on the armchair.

"I've been talking to Kenny today about last night. He mentioned that he noticed Stevie and Robyn getting friendly at the bar. I said about it to her, but apparently its total crap. She's setting the story straight." She mumbled the explanation and turned back into Meeky's chest. He sat rubbing her back silently, with a blank expression on his face. I looked away from her, glancing at Katie and Benjamin who still had confusion on their faces, and looked at Mollie. Understanding was creeping up in her eyes; she was beginning to slot pieces of my story into place. Not wanting to assume anything without my confirmation, she nodded at me hinting me to start my explanation.

"I did bump into Stevie last night, that's true. I also had a brief conversation with Kenny, but that part doesn't happen 'till later. Oh, Katie, this answers your questions about Aiden as well." I started, staring at the blank screen of my phone.

This may seem like a lot of drama over a very short encounter with a drunk on a night out, it mustn't make sense to anyone really, but it's a big deal to me. Not that I'm attention seeking, not at all, I prefer to go unnoticed. Sure I get jealous when I'm the only single one of the girls, but I'd rather not do the whole messing about with people thing that everyone seems to be doing nowadays. When I decide to start going with someone, I'd rather it was something meaningful, and not a fling. See, I have an old fashioned soul, as my grandmother tells me. And with all the female members of my family sticking with the one man from a young age, it's as if I'm looking for the same thing. The stories you read in fairy tales, love at first sight that lasts forever. Now don't get me wrong, I know that won't ever happen, but when I watch my parents that's what they have; even if I am biased about it. Jenni cleared her throat, removing me from my thoughts. I shot her a glare and picked up from my introduction.

"It was just after the four of us had left the dance floor, when we'd lost Jenni and Meeky, you two walked to the toilets" I said as I glanced at Mollie, and Katie. "And Benjamin and I went to the bar to do some shots. We were on the second, when someone bumped into me from behind and grabbed my waist. I figured it'd be no one too difficult to get rid of, but I thought that since I was with Benjamin that he could scare them off. When I looked over though, he'd wandered off with a bunch of girls. The arm grasped tighter around my waist, so I turned around to get rid of them myself. And who was it? The one and only Stevie, drunk out of his mind, but with determination in his eyes." I stopped at that point, to breathe and shake the memories from my head. I didn't look up; I couldn't look at the faces of my friends. I didn't know what to expect and I couldn't stand to know at this moment in time.

To save me from diving deeper into the events of last night, my phone started blaring in my hands. I looked from the coffee table to my hands to see who was ringing me. My breath caught in my throat, at the sight of their name, they were the only person that could clear this mess but me. I stood and left the room, not looking at anyone as I left, and walked into the kitchen before answering the call with a sigh instead of a greeting.

"Hello? Robyn, are you there?" They asked.

"Yea, Aiden, I'm here." I replied.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh, hey! I got to lazy to reply to your message, so I hope you don't mind me phoning you instead?" He said as his cheery tone faltered, with worry seeping through.

"Don't worry its fine. I kind of needed an excuse to leave the conversation there anyways" I replied, hopefully easing his concern.

"Oh right, how come?" He questioned, anxiety creeping up more so than before.

"Nothing really, I'm just explaining to everyone what happened with Stevie last night. The plan of just not telling them anything went balls up when Jenni spoke to Kenny this morning and mentioned it. He told her a total load of crap; like I was all over him then you interrupted and ruined the mood and such. So obviously she believes her druggy of a cousin over her best friend and her room mate!" I rambled, my frustration showing.

"Well did you not deny everything; let her know he's talking rubbish? I'm sure she'll understand once you tell her Kenny's wrong" He replied, calmer than he was previously.

"Of course I did! But she doesn't believe me. So I figured that if I told her everything she'll get that I'm not lying to her. So I'm telling everyone at the same time so I don't have to repeat myself. It turns out its not as easy as I first thought though…" I trailed off, hoping He'd get the gist of what I was saying. He sighed, seeming annoyed. I started pacing up and down the kitchen, stopping at the sink below the window and just opened up. "Look, I know it was only some creepy drunkard pushing a bit too far for a pull. And it's not as if I haven't had to fend them off before. But the fact that I actually _knew_ this one and would have to tell people about it to correct any bullshit he'd spread about, makes it harder to cope with than normal, ok?" I ranted, not even trying to hold back on the anger seeping through my voice. I heard a door slam and some light footsteps behind me; I turned to find Katie standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring at me.

"Robyn, do you not think you should tell Jenni all this? She's looking pretty upset in the front room right now." Katie said concern in her eyes. I have to say, I'm getting pretty fed up with that look. I stood with my back against the kitchen sink, phone frozen to my ear.

"Robyn? Robyn? Hello?" Aiden was saying, trying to get my attention back. "Robyn? What' happened?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, Katie's just overheard my rambling. She wants me to explain everything to Jenni properly." I explained briefly to his voice on the phone. "But it's not as if she wants to hear my side of the story, Katie. She's just sat there on top on Meeky with a blank look on her face. I had to force her to listen to me earlier, it's not like she wants to believe me now, is it?" I replied to Katie, aggravation clear in my speech. She just sighed and shrugged at me, as if to say 'it couldn't hurt'.

"Would it help if I explained what happened? I don't want to intrude or anything, but you're clearly upset about this. And for the record, I don't think you're over reacting. You seem to be able to hold your own pretty well, but I didn't like just standing there watching him pester you; especially after I snapped at you before hand." He said, kindness coming across as he calmly explained what I thought to be an annoyed sigh from him earlier.

"Oh, erm, would you mind? I mean you've already done so much already. I don't want to pester you any more than I already have" I said nervously, glancing at Katie who stood with a confused look on her face. I took the phone from my ear to check the time. "You don't have to come over or anything, I can just put you on speaker phone if that's easier?" I said quickly, trying to persuade him to agree, firing out the most hassle-free option I could think of, even though he suggested the idea in the first place. It would help me a lot, but I have to say that I wouldn't say no to meeting him again. There's just something about him that I can't describe, but I just know our story isn't finished yet.

"It's no problem babes, seriously." He said, trying to ease my worry. "And speaker phone's fine, I don't have much time anyway…" He trailed off, seeming upset for some reason. Surely it couldn't be because he thinks I don't want to meet up with him again? No, of course not; it'll be because I'm taking up his time. A fella like him wouldn't possibly be looking for a girl like me. Cliché I know. I mean its possible, yes, just very unlikely. I've only ever had attention from creepy blokes that I have no interest in even looking at never mind talking to. I shook my head, trying to focus enough to set this explanation meeting up.

"Ok, great" I said smiling, today was beginning to look somewhat brighter. "I'll put you on loud speaker now, and then explain to everyone that you're going to say what happened. After that, you can just go on ahead" I said, as I took hold of Katie's hand and led her into the front room where everyone else had been talking and laughing about what I'm guessing was last nights antics. Seems the harsher atmosphere from earlier had disappeared, the cheeriness came to a halt however, as I sat on the arm of the sofa beside Benjamin who had taken my seat from earlier. "Right, I have someone on the phone here that's going to tell you all who was coming onto who last night, seeing as some people don't believe me. I figured that an independent party member will help you understand what happened and not think that I'm spinning some kind of yarn." I said as I pushed the button on my BlackBerry to switch the phone call to loud speaker and placed it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "You're up, Aiden" I prompted, sitting back and putting my arm around the back of the sofa behind Benjamin so I wouldn't slip off.

We all sat around the front room, staring at my BlackBerry on the coffee table in the middle of us all, listening to Aiden talk over the events of last night. He'd started with our first meeting, when I walked into him while I was trying think of a plan to avoid bumping into Stevie. He wasn't aware of this; neither were anyone else so I had to interrupt him. From then Aiden went on to say what happened at the bar, with me saying that I was there with Benjamin but he'd wandered off. This comment didn't go down to well with Benjamin though; as the look that appeared on his face was one of discomfort and annoyance. I figured it was nothing to worry about and allowed Aiden to continue. He remembered it all so vividly. His were descriptions so detailed, he was even able to explain the look of fear and shock he saw in my eyes when I turned to look at him. I got lost in my thoughts, reliving the time that I could remember spending with Aiden last night. Well, I was until discomfort and unease began to show from Benjamin again. Nothing major, but the tensing of his muscles was hard to ignore seeing as I was practically leaning on him to stay on top of the sofa. I understand that he's annoyed that he wasn't there to help; we've known each other for years. Me being his little sister's best friend makes it that much harder I suppose, but something is telling me that it's not just that. I shook my head, to rid it of my thoughts. My eyes refocused from staring into space, to find everyone shifting their eyes between Jenni, my phone, and I. I looked from one to the other, eyebrows creased in confusion. What had I missed?

"Hello? Have I just been talking to myself for the past 10 minutes or what?" Aiden said, as I noticed the slight look of shock on Jenni's face.

"Sorry, Aiden, we're all a bit speechless on this end." I said, laughing a little to try to diffuse the tension. Everyone seemed to waken up from their stares as I said this, and mumbled their agreement with my statement. All but Jenni, who sat upright on Meeky's lap, still looking at me with the same look in her eyes. I stared back, raising my eyebrows in question. She looked away, towards the voice coming out of my BlackBerry, and lay back into Meeky's chest.

"Oh, of course, sorry, I got a bit freaked out when no one had said anything when I finished talking" He laughed. "Seeing as I've let everyone know what happened from my perspective, I'll let you finish up babe. I better go here anyways, give us a message later." He rushed out, slightly panicked, before he disconnected the phone call. Katie reached over from her spot on the floor and hit the end call button on my phone, which was the only movement for at least 5 minutes. I sat up right on the arm of the sofa, picking at my chipping silver nail polish to avoid any stares that I could feel coming from the others in the room. All of sudden, I as tackled to the floor whilst a pair of tiny arms grasped me into as big a bear hug as her tiny frame could muster up. I looked to find Jenni being the cause of my tumble, her face buried in my neck while she mumbled her apologies. I patted her shoulders before trying and failing to release myself from her arms.

"Ehh, Jenni love? I know you're sorry, but I'm currently loosing the feeling in my arms and I now have a giant bruise growing on my arse. Now get off please!" I laughed off, still struggling to get out of her grip. My injuries didn't seem to faze her, so I glanced up at Meeky hoping he'll calm her down. He nodded at me, then stood from the single sofa, and somehow managed to get Jenni off of me and standing properly before sitting himself back down again. She looked down, avoiding eye contact, and opening her mouth to start talking. I cut her off, "It's fine, honestly. Don't even mention this. All I ask is to think twice about believing Kenny over one of us again" I smiled, as I stood up and brushed myself off and grabbed my phone off the coffee table. She smiled back, nodding and moving back to sit on top of Meeky again.

"Robyn, why didn't you just tell us what happened?" Katie asked, the look of concern building up again.

"Well I didn't think it was that big a deal. Then Mollie found out when we went outside to the smokers area last night. I just didn't mention names to avoid any awkwardness. Turned out well though, this isn't awkward at all!" I said, ending with a sarcastic tone. "And nothing too horrid happened anyways, seeing as Aiden was there to fend Stevie off. So it's no big deal really!" I smiled. With Aiden being mentioned yet again, Benjamin pulled a face and walked out of the room. I watched him leave, and then glanced between Mollie and Katie looking for an answer. They simply shrugged in reply to my questioning looks. But I was beginning to notice the link between his bad moods and Aiden. It's rare enough for Benjamin for to not like someone without good reason, but to make it this noticeable is odd to say the least. I simply rolled my eyes and decided took a mental note to talk to him later, as I sat in his seat on the sofa.

"I should have listened to you, Robyn. You kept telling us all that you had no interest in Stevie, but I just kept pushing. I just thought you were only playing hard to get, as if you were scared to open up. I never would've guessed things could get this out of hand." Mollie poured out, her apology clear to see upon her face.

"Yea, Robyn, the fact that he was so obviously obsessed with Kenny should have been a warning sign. We only figured he could use you as a distraction so Mollie would get peace from him. He's definitely not right in the head like." Katie said, visibly annoyed with herself.

"Honestly guys, it's fine! No one was hurt, we just need to make sure we listen to each other before believing something from the grape vine" I said, "Well, that and making sure that Stevie and Kenny aren't going to the same club we are on our nights out from now on!" I laughed, as did the rest of the girls. Meeky just smiled in humour as he lifted a silent Jenni off of his lap to stand, before getting up and leaving the room. Going to find Benjamin I'm guessing. These fellas are more secretive than girls, seriously. I'll have to have a word with them to figure out what's happening.

"I think it goes to say that everyone agrees with that one!" Katie laughed, as she grabbed the TV remote and turned it off standby to watch the Eastenders omnibus. She's obsessed, I swear! I stood, and began collecting all the mugs and plates from everyone's breakfast earlier. "Oh, while you're up, Robyn, I'd love another tea" Katie smiled up at me from her spot on the floor. I sighed, and heard Mollie and Jenni pipe up wanting another as well. I walked out of the front room and into the kitchen to find Benjamin and Meeky sitting at the small table. They'd obviously been discussing something, but my entrance had disturbed them. It must be some juicy gossip for them to go silent like that, so I doubt it's anything trivial.

"Don't mind me; I'm only here to make tea. Fancy a cup?" I asked, looking at them as a walked past placing the dishes in the sink and filling up the kettle. They shook their heads, declining my offer. They then began conversations about Benjamin looking for a new car; his jeep was dying quicker than anticipated apparently. I should have remembered they both don't drink it, really. When I'd flicked the kettle on and got the teapot sorted, I pulled out my phone from my pocket and began a text to Aiden.

'_Hiya :) Things have calmed down here now; I even got a bear hug from Jenni. Thanks for helping out x'_ – Robyn.

With the kettle boiled, I made 4 cups of tea, set them on a small tray and made my way back into to living room. Leaving the boys to finish having whatever conversation I had previously interrupted. We all sat and watched the soap omnibus on TV while drinking our tea, making comments on situations or peoples outfits; nothing exciting really, just wasting time. Mollie was just making fun of someone's imitation label bag, when my phone vibrated from my pocket. I set my mug down, got my BlackBerry out and smiled as I found Aiden had replied to my previous text.

'_Hey babe, glad to hear it. It was my pleasure. Sorry for not sticking about afterwards though. How'd it go? x' _– Aiden.

'_It's fine, what had you all rushed for anyways? If you don't mind me asking. Ok, we sat in silence for a bit, then Jenni tackled me into a hug and apologised. Haha x'_ – Robyn.

I put my phone on the sofa beside me, and lifted my mug of tea before noticing all 3 girls turned and staring at me with grins on their faces.

"Erm, can I help you?" I questioned, wary of the answer.

"Who was that you were texting?" Katie asked.

"Was it your boyfriend?" Mollie fired, not giving me a chance to reply to Katie.

"Was it Aiden?" Jenni sang as she piped in, all 3 of them grinning like children with sweets. I just smiled, sighed and nodded.

"I knew it!" Mollie almost screamed. "A smile like that from you, it had to be someone special" She finished, managing to not scream. I laughed at the 3 of them, they're so easily amused. Just as Katie was asking what Aiden was talking to about, my phone vibrated signalling another text.

'_Hi, change of plan for dinner. Meet us in Pier 36 at 2' _– Mum.

'_Ohkies, see you there x' _– Robyn.

I checked the time on my phone; I had an hour before I had to be there, the half hour journey there included. I set my BlackBerry back down, just as the boys walked into the room. Meeky moved Jenni so she was sitting on his lap as before, and Benjamin sat in between Mollie and I.

"Just in time," I said, "I've to head out in half an hour, so get packing Bridges!" I finished, directing my announcement to Mollie, Katie and Benjamin.

"Ohh, where are you heading out to?" Katie questioned, giggling slightly.

"Going to meet the Boyf are we?" Mollie questioned also, laughing as she picked fun at me talking to Aiden earlier.

"Boyf?" Benjamin asked, "Who're you going out with?" he added, looking genuinely surprised at his sisters heckling.

"For a start, I am not going out with anyone, and I'm not meeting Aiden!" I laughed, "It's the 'rents and brothers for dinner in Donaghdee at 2, instead of going home and eating Sunday dinner there." I explained. I got several 'uh huh's and 'yea right's in reply. I shrugged at them, and smiled in amusement.

Little did I know who I would be bumping into on what I was expecting to be a simple weekly Sunday meal with my family…


	6. Chapter 6

I left the house on time, as planned. Everyone else had decided to stay on with Jenni and Meeky. I had a feeling it was about the conversation I'd interrupted between him and Benjamin earlier. Not that they'll fill me in anytime soon, but I'll get words out of one of them soon enough. I was interrupted from my thoughts as my phone rang from my bag on the passenger seat of Herbert, my black Clio. Mollie named him, and it just stuck. I was currently going along the carriageway into my home town, in order for me to make my way to the small village where I was meeting my family. I reached over into my large black bag and rummaged about for my BlackBerry, it was Aiden calling. I'll have to ring him back later, so I silenced the ringing, and noticed I had a new text message as well. That'd have to wait too.

Around 15 minutes later I'd parked Herbert out the back of the restaurant I was meeting Mum, Dad, Adam and Dean at. I then checked the time, and with having 5 minutes to spare, I decided to check the message on my phone and call Aiden back. The text was from him, saying that he had to meet a friend for food and that he was pleased that everything was back to normal between my friends and me. I doubt you'd call it normal, but that's not for him to worry about. I decided against replying, seeing as I was going to ring him anyway. I grabbed my bag, took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car, locking it and pushing call on Aiden's number as I made my way to the front of Pier 36.

"Hello, hang on a minute." He said, after answering the call. The loud background noise made it hard to make him out, but it grew quieter. "Hey babe, what's up?" he asked, as a door closed in the background.

"Hiya, nothing much really; I'm just about to meet the family for dinner. Did you ring me earlier?" I replied, as I turned a corner and walked along the street towards the restaurant.

"Oh yea, you didn't reply to my message and I was getting bored waiting on my mates so I decided to call you" He chuckled out, sounds rather embarrassed.

"Fair enough", I laughed back, "I was driving so I couldn't answer, sorry. I wasn't just ignoring you." I slowed my walking, as I made my way past the small betting shop beside my destination. Aiden chuckled at my explanation for not answering his call. But his voice seemed closer than it should from over the phone. This made me come to a stop, just by the main door which leads to the porch of the pub and restaurant.

"Well, I guessed not seeing as you called me back" He replied, still chuckling. I laughed in reply. "Hang on a sec" he said, as I heard rummaging from his end of the line. His voice still seeming close, hopefully I'm just getting a bit of a headache and not hallucinating. That could be awkward to explain. In my odd thoughts, and hearing voices, I'd begun walking again. Making my way into the porch area, and there he was leaning against the wall beside the leaflets for tourists. He was rummaging in his pockets for what I guessed was his lighter, seeing as he had an unlit cigarette in the same hand which held in phone. I cleared my throat, not gaining his attention.

"Having trouble there?" I asked, as I let out a light laugh and hung up on him. He glanced up, muttering something in agreement. He noticed the line was dead, and looked at the screen on this phone and sighed in annoyance. He put his phone in his back pocket, and pulled out his lighter. Only then did he look up at me again and realise who I was, I grin creeping onto his face. "Took you long enough" I laughed out, "Is someone a tad hung over?" I joked, noticing the bags under his eyes and his body language being slightly more slumped and tired looking than I remembered from last night.

"Oh god, don't even start!" he managed to laugh out again, running a hand through his floppy quiff. "I don't get how you look so good today, how are you not dying?" he complained; as he took hold of my hand and led me back out onto the street so he could have his smoke.

"I just don't get hangovers" I smiled, "How come you look like the living dead though, if I remember correctly you were able to walk last night, unlike the rest of us!" I laughed out, releasing my hand from his and checking the time on my phone. I was late, and for once I didn't care. There's something about this boy, something that relaxes me, and that's sort of a big deal what with my borderline OCD. I was not about to loose this by making him bump into my parents and brothers.

"Lucky for some!" He laughed out, as he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette. "Well yes, but drink always hates me. More so if pretty little blondes go about buying me shots like they're going out of fashion," he finished, as he took another draw.

"I'll have you know, I didn't buy all the shots! That's why we have Benjamin come out with us, he never fails to buy us drink," I grinned, but my smile faded as I detected a slight hint annoyance from his eyes. Seems like the feeling's mutual between the 2 of them then. I need to figure out why, but I'm not about to get into their problems now, seeing as I'm already late. With that still to be discussed, I decided to make my excuses to leave. "I'm so sorry, but I really should go. My Mum will go mad if I keep them all waiting any longer." I said, with more regret than I wanted to portray.

"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry for keeping you, you can blame me for it to save you from trouble," He winked, putting out his cigarette. "I'm joking obviously; let's not have your mother angry at me before I even get a proper introduction." He smiled, as he took hold of my hand yet again, and led me into the restaurant.

"Well don't go holding your breath, you won't be getting introduced to my mother for a long time!" I said, as I spotted my table in the bar area, beside the empty fireplace. "And it looks like I'm over here," I said, nodding in the direction of my family, "So I shall talk to you later" I smiled, letting go of his hand. I was about to walk away, when he pulled me back into a hug.

"You're not getting away that easily," he laughed, I swear he's like a children's TV presenter being this happy all the time, "And you will talk to me later" He said, releasing me and kissing my check before winking and sauntering off towards the back of the bar. Well that's not going to be awkward to explain to the folks. I rolled my eyes and made the short walk over to join everyone at my table.

"What kept you?" My mother questioned, arms folded. "And who was that and why don't I know him?" She added, I just love how she gives me so much privacy, even after I've been out of the house for a year.

"He's just a friend Mum, I bumped into him outside and we talked for a bit. I'm not hours late or anything." I replied, checking the time to find that I was only 5 minutes late. "And it's not like you didn't order drinks without me" I added, nodding towards the glasses on the table.

"Uh huhh" she said, unfolding her arms and taking a drink of her soda and lime, before joining the conversation the boys had started during Mum's questioning. I set my bag on the floor beside the empty seat that I guessed was for me, and signalled that I'll be back in a minute.

"Diet coke and a straw, please" I smiled at the barman. As I was waiting for my drink, an arm made its way around my waist. I froze, remembering the last time this happened.

"Fancy meeting you here" He said, hearing his husky voice putting me at ease. "Pint of Stella, cheers" He said to the barman.

"What are you stalking me now or something?" I questioned, with my eye brows raised as I turned and leant my side against the bar.

"Eh, didn't you follow me here?" Aiden said, as he handed the money over for our drinks. I opened my mouth to complain, and got a look shot back to stop me.

"No, just 'cause you were here first doesn't mean I'm the one stalking you." I laughed, noticing my Mother glaring over at us from my table. "But lets not start this now, as we're currently being observed by Mother dearest," I smiled, taking a sip of my drink. He choked slightly on his beer, set it down and laughed.

"Well I better leave you alone before she starts 20 questions." He replied, still smiling.

"Starts? She's on question 4 at the moment! And I very much doubt she's going to stop at 20." I laughed back, "but I best go before I keep them all waiting any longer." I said, smiling at him as I lifted my drink and went to walk away. Before I could take a second step, I was gently pulling back into another hug. He kissed my forehead, before winking and sauntering off again. I smiled and shook my head, as I made my way back to my table.

"Just friends, huh?" Dean poked, as he leant forward onto the table. Out of my 2 brothers, he's both the youngest and the one I get along best with. As he started making fun, Adam, my older brother, began also by laughing and 'oohing'. He's ever so mature for a 23 year old, as you can tell. I simply rolled my eyes at him before answering Dean.

"At best, yes" I retaliated. "So, what'd I miss?" I asked everyone, and we started into our weekly catch up. I didn't mention last night's incident with Stevie, but they were aware of my drunkenness, even though we all pretend that a couple of alcopops does me for a night.

3 hours later, we had all been fed, with me being the only one to opt for a desert yet again. But what can I say? I like food! My Dad and Adam, being the only 2 boys that are old enough to drink, had decided to get more drink in, much to Mothers dismay. And with Dean being in the toilets, I was then nominated for bar duty. They seem to forget that there are people here paid to do this, instead of me doing it for them. Knowing better than to argue about it, I sighed before grabbing my purse hoping there'd be enough cash in it to pay for a round, and made my way to the bar. I ended up at the far end, further away from my table than previously, so my family were out of sight. I was also able to spot Aiden laughing with his friend, who was still here surprisingly. Even being able to look at him brought a smile to my face, I've only known the fella for a day, not even, and already I was getting in too deep for my liking. Shaking my thoughts out from the forefront of my mind, I ordered Guinness for Dad, Stella for Adam, a latte for Mum and Fanta for Dean. As I was waiting for the drinks, I'd checked my phone to find I had a new message. It was nothing important, only Katie thanking me for letting them stay and complaining about her hangover, which made my laugh slightly. I replied quickly, making fun of her self induced suffering, before paying for my drink order, and lifting the 2 drinks that were ready. The barman said he'd take the latte and Guinness over for me in a bit.

We sat laughing, gossiping and continuing to catch up with each other for another hour. The current topic of conversation was on the car options Adam had, seeing as Dad wrote his Seat Ibiza off last month and the settlement check just arrived. He had settled on getting a Toyota Celica, an ill choice in my opinion. I was just about to give up my argument on him getting a VW Scirocco, when I got a message from Mollie.

'_Hiya Love, I'm just home. Thanks for having us, a catch up will be needed very soon! :) xox!'- Mollie._

As I was getting tired of me going unheard at the table, I nodded at Dean and left to go outside. As soon as I got to the porch, I dialled her number.

"McAllister! Too lazy to text are we?" Mollie said, answering her phone.

"Perhaps! So how's the hangover?" I replied, leaning against the wall Aiden was at earlier.

"Still lingering, unfortunately, did you even get a head ache?" She said, obviously annoyed at my lack of pain the day after a messy night out.

"Nope, I'm perfectly healthy!" I laughed. "But here, you'll never guess who I bumped into here?" I asked, turning slightly more serious.

"Ohh, I feel a bit of gossip coming along! Hmm… I don't even think you know anyone from Donaghdee that you'd bump into." She pondered aloud, lacking an answer.

"I'll give you a clue shall I?" I poked, "_He's_ a new friend, and is also recovering from last nights antics. Apparently I'm a bad influence!" I said quickly seeming shocked, before she could respond to my question.

"Ahh! Its Quiff boy isn't it? Oh my God! It's so meant to be!" She squealed, clearly overly excited about it. "Tell me everything!" She added, before I could correct her guess.

"His name is Aiden, love. And yes, he's here." I said, somewhat stalling before I thought of a short summary of what's happened so far. "Nothing much, we were on the phone as I walked from the car park, and he was stood outside trying to find his lighter. Then we met at the bar coincidently and he bought me a drink. Mother's loving not knowing who he is, as you can probably guess. And the fact that he's hugged and kissed me on the cheek a couple of times isn't helping my _'just friends'_ excuse!" I laughed, as did Mollie on the other end of the phone.

"Aww! That's soo cute! She'll be plotting the wedding as we speak, I wouldn't put it past her to have the dates set either!" She squealed, and then laughed.

"Ugh, don't even get started. You know what she's like! But enough about that, I have some snooping for you to do," I grinned. I could picture Mollie's excited expression at my mere mention of this.

"Ooh, do tell" she grinned back.

"It's nothing major really; I've just noticed Benjamin acting a bit strange since Aiden's been mentioned. They get the same look on their faces when you talk about the other one. It's almost as if they hate each other, but they were getting along great from what I remember. Have you any ideas?" I rambled, hoping she'd shine some light on the situation.

"Oh, Love, they don't hate each other. It seems rather obvious what's wrong if you ask me. In fact, Katie and I were discussing this earlier" she said, I could tell she was smiling at the thought of her next response. From her pause, I just knew I wasn't going to like her answer. "They're jealous" she stated, as if this answer was clearly observable.

"Excuse me? They're jealous of what exactly?" I laughed out, seriously doubting Mollie's sanity. Well, more so than usual.

"I knew you wouldn't see it. Jealous of each other! Duhh" She said, more obviously than earlier. I remained silent in my confusion, so she carried on explaining. "Aiden plainly thinks that's you and Benjamin have a bit of a thing going on, and is just worried about his competition. Either that or, he's doesn't like the closeness you and Benjamin have when he's trying to make his move… My brother on the other hand, I'm just going to say that he's worried you'll get hurt. He's clearly annoyed at himself for leaving you last night, and having some random fella help you instead of him has kind of injured his masculinity." She explained. Now that was something to think about. It made sense, seeing as Aiden's relatively new to the group and doesn't quite know us all yet, but Benjamin's never been so protective before. I'm not being told something.

"I suppose that explains it, I'm probably over reacting. You know me!" I joked. "But here, lunch on Tuesday? Bring Katie if she's free. We need a sober get together." I said, knowing Mollie would be off and Jenni would be working.

"Yep, sounds like a date. I best go here dear, my Chinese is here. But I shall talk to you later Babes! Mwah!" she said cheerily, then hanging up before I could say my goodbyes. There's definitely something she's not telling me, and I don't like being left out of the loop. Pushing my paranoid thoughts to the back of my mind, I made my way back inside. I put my BlackBerry into my pocket, and walked over to the table noticing that Adam was missing. I sat down, and nodded to Dean about Adam's empty seat, as to not disturb him from the discussion he was having with Dad. He simply shrugged, and pointed towards the bar.

"You really think he needs more drink in him, mum?" I questioned, she simply raised her hands in innocence.

"He's 23 now, all grown up! He can do what he bloody well likes." She replied. I rolled my eyes, and managed to spot him at the bar, with his back to me. Whoever he was talking with looked very familiar, however. With a movement from my dearest brother I was able to make out who he was standing with, laughing away: Aiden. This was not going to end well…


	7. Chapter 7

My keys jingled as I unlocked the front door, as I yelled my hello's to whoever was still here. It was an automatic response I'd developed, a much needed one when you're living with Jenni and her lodger of a boyfriend. Not getting a response, I removed my keys, shut the door and wandered into the kitchen, dumping them in the bowl on top of the microwave. I filled the kettle and sorted out a mug and a tea bag for myself and made my way upstairs to dump my bag and grab my laptop, making sure the rooms were empty on my way past. They both must be at his tonight for a change. I sat on my usual spot on the sofa, the TV on for background noise, my laptop in front of me and my now made cup of tea in my hand. I couldn't help but sit and stare into space however, my thoughts drifting to tonight's events.

Adam wouldn't spill about conversation with Aiden. Obviously it was something big, judging from the smug look on his face when I questioned him about it. Yet, that could be based on the joy he seems to get from the annoyance he causes me. He seems to enjoy pissing me off, so much for being 'all grown up'. My questioning didn't get too far, as Mother commented on my irritating him for trying to make friends with Aiden. He just smirked, as he glared at me with an overly mischievous glint in his eyes.

Aiden wouldn't let go of any details either, claiming it was nothing for me to stress over. He was acting differently though, warier. This was stranger than what I could recognise as normal behaviour from the short amount of time that I've known him. But to be fair, this conclusion was only based on the short conversation I had with him before I was trailed off to drive Adam home when the rest of my family were leaving. I needed to get to the bottom of this, and figure out what's had Benjamin's knickers in a twist. All this secrecy is really beginning to tire me out, seriously. Before this night out my life was so dull, I miss that!

I was torn from my thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing. Shaking my head in an attempt to focus more, I moved my laptop on to the coffee table, took a sip of my tea, and then answered the call without checking who it was.

"Hello?" I asked, as I placed my mug down on one of the coasters beside my laptop. No one replied, the only sign of them still being there was the sound of their heaving breathing. "Hello?" I repeated, still not getting a worded response. The breathing had eased up, and a deep chuckle had taken place. I lifted the phone from my ear, to check the number that was ringing me. It wasn't withheld, but the number wasn't one I recognised. I simply hung up, pushing any worrying thoughts aside, and copied the number into a text to send to a couple of people to see if they knew it. Dean, Aiden, Benjamin, Jenni, Mollie and Katie were all sent it. I know Aiden was a bit of a long shot for knowing the number, seeing as I don't actually know any of his friends and he doesn't know mine overly well. It was worth a try though.

Half an hour later, I was still sat on my laptop with the TV on for background noise. So far Katie, Dean and Benjamin had replied to my text about the unknown number. They didn't know who it was either, and hadn't thought much of it. They probably figured I'd handed my number to some fella from last night and didn't remember. However, by this stage I'd had another call from Mr Unknown. It went along the same lines as the first, but the repetition wasn't reducing my stress levels at all. I'd checked my profiles on FaceBook to make sure my number wasn't visible, even though you can't see my profiles without being friends first, and Twitter didn't have my number at all. This only meant that I knew the person that was ringing me, if only this information eased my worrying.

To try and help myself calm down I made another cup of tea, as I hunted out more tea bags from the cupboard, my phone beeped from its location in the front room. I put the box beside my mug and went to see who was texting me, hoping I'd know the person wanting to talk to me. It was Jenni, saying she had no idea who it was and asking why. I should've ignored it, figuring she wouldn't be lying to me after this morning's argument about Kenny and Stevie. I couldn't help the niggling feeling at the back of my mind, however, telling me that something wasn't right. Just as I was about to ring her, my phone beeped. I had a text from Mollie saying that the number was Stevie's, and asking what was wrong. I decided to play down the situation, trying to ease her worrying even though she'll end up seeing right through me. So I told her that I had a missed call from him just, but I didn't know the number. She ended up ringing me; looks like the lie didn't last long!

"Robyn, seriously what's happened?" Mollie said.

"I told you, someone rang me. I didn't know the number, so I text you lot asking if anyone knew it. So far Katie, Benjamin, Dean and Jenni don't know it" I explained.

"Wait, so Jenni's said she doesn't know Stevie's number? She was texting him the other day." Mollie said, unintentionally pointing out that my niggling feeling was correct.

"Oh my god, I can't believe her! I suppose it's a coincidence that she's at Meeky's tonight while I'm getting creepy phone calls then?" I ranted, letting slip on the phone calls.

"She's definitely up to something; I thought she'd just given up with the whole Kenny and me thing. Obviously she's stopped pestering to think up a plan, except this must involve Stevie and you as well. Don't answer you're phone unless you know the number, dear. And I'd ignore her calls as well, just in case." She said, making sense of the situation.

"Yea, you're right. I'll leave you alone now, but I'll keep you updated. Bye!" I replied. Mollie made her goodbyes before we both ended the phone call.

I put my phone back down, and went into the kitchen to finish sorting the tea bags and making a mug of tea for myself. Just as I sat down on the sofa and went to shut my laptop off, my BlackBerry started ringing. I'm getting sick of all this attention, what ever happened to having a dull social life and no drama? The number flashing on the screen was withheld. I ignored it, following Mollie's advice. I managed to turn my laptop off and grab the TV remote before it rang again, with the same withheld number. I decided on taking the chance of this being another creepy phone call and answered it. What Mollie doesn't know won't hurt her, I suppose.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice showing more wariness than I would've liked.

"Hey babes, what's with this number thing?" a deep voice replied. This was someone I could recognise instantly, due to them being a bit more vocal than laughing down the phone. It was Aiden, seeming confused but happy nonetheless. I didn't have enough sanity in me to question him on his mood from earlier, or why he was calling me from a withheld number. So I just let out the breath I wasn't aware I was holding, and tried to reign in the relief I felt from the sound of his voice.

"Oh thank god it's you!" I babbled out, maybe this whole Stevie situation was getting to me more than I was letting on to myself. "I was so worried when I saw it was a private number calling me, you have no idea how creeped out I am right now. I mean, it's probably nothing, but I can't help but panic" I continued to babble. Ok, so I was definitely more worried than I was willing to think about.

"Ok, Robyn, calm down. What's happened?" Aiden said, worry showing through his voice, his usual cheery mood gone from before. I briefly explained what was happening, saying that someone was ringing me. I also added that Stevie shouldn't even be talking to anyone that had my number. None of his friends got it when Mollie was with Kenny, apart from Jenni and I wasn't going to open that can of worms again. "Right, what did she say when you told her he was ringing you then?" he asked.

"She doesn't know, well she denied knowing the number and I didn't explain why I asked. Mollie was the one who told me it was Stevie, and also told me that Jenni was texting him the other day. Only you and Mollie know what's going on, although I have a feeling Jenni knows a lot more than she's letting on. I'm not planning on telling anyone else 'cause they'd only just panic about me being alone in the house." I said, not thinking it was a big deal for me seeing as I'm nearly 20 after all.

"Wait, you're on your own now; as in for the rest of the night?" He said; worry seeping back into his voice.

"Well, yea. Jenni's conveniently staying at Meeky's tonight for a change. Why?" I replied, not getting the full picture obviously.

"Do you not think that's a bad idea? I mean, Jenni's clearly up to something. And seeing as Stevie's managed to get hold of you number somehow, do you not think he could get your address as well? I mean, it's a long shot but after the way he was acting last night I don't want to risk it. Even if I barely now him." Aiden rambled out, clearly over worrying and not helping my panic levels.

"Well, I…" I managed to stumble out, panic taking over now.

"Ok, I'm coming over. There's no way I'm letting you stay alone after this creep's scaring you so much. Where do you live?" He said certainty clear in his voice. I sat, speechless, not quite able to answer his question. I focused on the noises in the background on the phone call. From the thumping and clattering from Aiden's end, I guessed he was getting ready to come over no matter what my reaction. I stuttered out my address, after he questioned me again saying that he doubted the taxi driver was going to be magically able to know where I live.

"Thanks for doing this Aiden, but you really didn't have to do this. I'll pay for your taxi, and-" I said, expressing my gratefulness. He shushed me.

"It's no bother, honestly. It's not like I had anything better to do on a Sunday night. I'm really sorry, but I need to go here. I'm on a friends phone cause mine's out of credit but I'll be at your door in less than half an hour. I promise you babes" he said. I voiced my goodbye, just in time for the line to go dead.

I set my phone back down, gulping down my somewhat cold tea, and lifting my laptop to put it away. Yes, I'm a neat freak, what of it? I made my way downstairs after setting it in my room and having a quick tidy up in there and the bathroom. I'm aiming to clean up the living room and kitchen before Aiden arrived. Honestly, I think I'm getting worse than my Mother with this whole cleaning business. I lifted my empty mug, seeing the living room being tidy enough, and made my way into the kitchen. I'd just finished putting away the dishes, when I heard my phone ring. Setting my mug down, I returned to the living room to find a withheld number flashing on the screen of my BlackBerry. Figuring it was Aiden who'd forgotten my address, I answered it.

"I knew you'd forget my address. Why don't you just get dropped along the Belmont road and I'll meet you there?" I said answering the call. I got no reply. "Hello? Aiden?" I said, beginning to doubt the identity of the caller. I got an un-worded response, only a familiar deep chuckle. "Oh great, you again; what's you're problem?" I said getting rather annoyed at all this unnecessary drama. No answer again, but before I could add to my ranting the line went dead. Just then, the doorbell rang and there was a knock on the door.

I froze, phone still in my hand. The frosted glass in the hall prevented me from seeing who was at the door, so I stood by the door of the living room half frozen in shock. The person at the door knocked again, and then rang the bell. I started to slowly make my way to the door, curiosity getting the better of me. I was just at the bottom of the stairs; mere feet away from reaching the door, when the letter box opened and a pair of eyes appeared. I froze yet again, my fear leaving me unable to indentify them to anyone I would be willing to let in. I heard them mumbling something I couldn't make out, clearly annoyed at being left outside. With panic coursing through my veins for the umpteenth time tonight, the only sensible option I could come up with was to phone Aiden. He seems to the answer to a lot of things I've been asking myself lately. So I dialled his number, and waited. Holding my phone to my ear, waiting for him to answer, I noticed the sound of a phone ringing from the person at the door.

"Robyn, would you let me in please?" Aiden said as he picked up the call. I instantly obeyed, relief clearing my head from the previous panic. As soon as he was through the door, I couldn't help but envelope him in the biggest hug I could muster up. Taking him by surprise, it took him a while to return the favour. He cleared his throat, and removed his arms from the embrace, trying to struggle free from my grip. "Eh, Robyn? Fancy letting go, I kind of need to breathe you know." He said, laughing slightly.

"Sorry" I mumbled, letting go of him and taking a step back as I dusted myself off. "He rang again just as you knocked the door, I didn't know what to do but panic." I said, trying to play it off as my being silly. He gave me look full of concern, one I was getting all too familiar with. "But anyways, go on in to the living room and I'll make us some tea." I smiled as I closed and locked the front door. I turned, expecting him to have followed my instructions, to find him standing there with his hands in his pockets looking around himself. I cleared my throat to gain his attention, it worked. The look on his face was one of a child being caught stealing sweets. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"What? Am I not allowed to look at where I'm spending the night?" Aiden said, his cheery smug attitude showing through.

"You may be spending the night here, love. But that doesn't mean you're sleeping in my bed" I said, as I raised my eyebrows attempting to return his level of attitude. With that, I walked into the kitchen to make yet more tea. He followed, seeming more of a lost puppy than a small child now. "Biscuits are in that cupboard, feel free to eat what you like as long as it doesn't have a 'Jenni' sticker on it" I said, pointing it out.

"A 'Jenni' sticker?" He laughed, "I didn't really think people used that method of naming food." He finished, lifting out a packet of custard creams smiling to himself.

"Well we are students after all, remember" I laughed, "now come on the tea's out." I said, lifting both mugs and walking into the living room. I set them down on the coffee table, and grabbed the TV remote before sitting down in my part of the sofa. He sat at the other end, already tucking in to the biscuits. "Aiden" I said, as he looked up from the custard creams his mouth full of them. "Can I ask you what Adam was talking to you about earlier?" He nodded, his face showing disheartened emotions. He finished what was in his mouth, took a gulp of tea and turned to face me.

"Well, it was nothing really. He basically said to tread carefully, and don't get in too deep. 'Cause as soon as I get sucked in, you'll be off with another bloke. He said it's what you do seeing as you've got a thing for you're best friend's brother, and he doesn't even give you a second glance." Aiden explained, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding eye contact. I sat with a shocked expression I was unable to conceal. I started to object, but I was cut off as he set the biscuits down, and moved closer to my end of the sofa. "And to be honest, I have noticed something going on between you and Benjamin. He has made me want to take a step back, from the off putting glances I got last night, to the way you look at him. But honestly, I don't care; I'm more than wiling to fight for you. And if I lose, and that's a big if! I'm willing to risk the heartache; I can't let you go just like that. Now, I know it's only been a day or two, but there's something about you I just can't get out of my mind." He said gently, his face soft, and longing in his eyes. I looked away, unable to grasp what he was saying. This kind of attention just doesn't happen with me, I get Stevie's usually. He was having none of my attempts to avoid awkward emotions, as he took hold of one of my hands in his, and lifted my chin with the other to stare into my eyes as he moved closer again, his face inching closer. My lips parted on their own accord, his followed. I could taste is sweet breath; I could feel his lips mere millimeters away from my own.

Then the inevitable happened...


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that people are reading this! So if by any chance you facny leaving me a bit of feedback, good or bad, I'd love you forever! :)

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><p>Our lips touched briefly, as we simultaneously glanced at each others lips and back to our eyes before repeating the movement, and to be overly clichéd it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. I could almost feel the sparks flying when our lips touched. Don't get me wrong, I've kissed guys before, but only drunkenly and I've never spoken to them again. See, I've never really been one for relationships however generic that sounds. But the idea of picking out the one person you'll be spending the rest of your life with absolutely terrifies me. It's not that all the relationships in my family haven't lasted; it's quite the opposite really. The fact that all of my female family members have married and stuck with their husbands is what I believe causes my anxiety. But this kiss, I could see us being permanent, both of us lasting. Usually even the idea one finding someone to even consider for such a thing terrifies me. Having the potential to place all my love and trust into someone, and it being up to them to return the favour or drop it at a moments notice. But this left me completely calm, well for the moment anyway.<p>

I snapped out of my internal monologue as Aiden moved closer into me, one hand moving to the back of my neck, the other moving to my waist, deepening the kiss. My hands managed to wrap themselves around his neck of their own accord, as his tongue begged for permission to enter my mouth. Just as we'd managed to fall back on the arm of the sofa, Aiden being on top of me with both hands now grasping at my waist, someone started banging at the door. Our lips parted suddenly, reddened from their brief work out. Our eyes met, and for a brief moment I swear that I could see he felt the same. I could almost tell he was thinking the same as I was only mere seconds ago. But with a blink it was gone, as he removed his hands from my waist and sat up avoiding eye contact. I followed suit, fixing my clothes and hoping my lipstick wasn't all over my face. Just as I stood up to go to the mirror to check, the banging at the door started again, heavier this time. I froze, panicking yet again. What was it with my stress levels heightening when Aiden's around? I turned to look at him; he glanced back holding the eye contact this time. I searched for some kind of answer to this situation, panic clear on my face as the yelling started from the person at the door. He looked stern, as if a plan was already set in his mind, with glimmers of protectiveness that I've rarely seen.

"I know you're in there!" They shouted; it was a voice I was unable to recognise. "Open the door!"

I looked back over at Aiden from the direction of the front door. He stood, walking over to me and taking a firm hold of my hand. Confusion replacing some of the panic which was plastered on my face, he'd managed to remain calm from what I could decipher from the look on his face. Not thinking to tell me his plan, he led me out into the hall and towards the front door, where the door continued to be battered. He reached out with his free hand, placing the chain on the door and unlocking the door. I tugged at the arm I was now grasping onto with both hands; he merely looked back at me and nodded. I took it as an attempt to comfort me into thinking this was a good idea, needless to say it didn't work. He opened the door and stepped forward to place his head in the gap the chain allowed for. I stepped forward also, standing behind him unable to see who was trying to barge into my house.

"Who the fuck are you?" The voice questioned annoyance and rage clear in their tone. I knew they were male, you just knew from the shouting, and from the creepy phone calls I was getting tonight it was obvious this had something to do with Stevie.

"I think I'm the one that should be asking you that. What do you want?" Aiden replied, trying to remain calm but the annoyance in his tone was building.

"I'm not fucking talking to you, where's Robyn?" They barked back, annoyance ever increasing.

"What the hell makes you think I'm going to let you talk to her when you've just tried to knock her front door down?" Aiden barked back, the calm act going out the window.

"Just fucking let me in!" They shouted, jumping at the door, the chain just about able to stay in tact. I grasped onto Aiden as tight as I could manage, he squeezed back in reassurance not taking his eyes off of the gorilla violently bouncing off of the front door.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Calm down! What do you want to talk to her for? Give me a reason and I'll consider it" Aiden said through his teeth, an attempt to retain his anger. I could picture the look on his face, teeth grinding, eyebrows knitting in frustration, sternness and annoyance clear on his face.

"I know she's behind you, it hard to ignore the tugging on your arm there, Doll Face," he said, I could picture the arrogantly smug look on his face, "Just tell her it's her other half." I nearly gagged from the thought he'd just put into my head. Shaking the thought out, I stood on my toes and peaked over Aiden's shoulder. Wouldn't you know it was going to be Stevie himself, looking rather sober for a change? "Oh, lookie here! There's the slut herself." His smirk ever growing; with utter disgust clear on his face as he spat out the last word. I stood back down and let go of Aiden, he looked back at me with worry in his eyes. My face was set with anger; I had enough of this cretin. I pushed in front of Aiden and stuck my face in front of the gap at the door, as he placed his hands around my waist. I took this as a sign of protectiveness, but with this being a face off with Stevie, it's more like claiming me as his property.

"What the fuck do you want, Stevie? And more importantly, how the fuck do you know where I live?" I snapped. He lent up against the door, facing us with his arms folded and looking as smug and full of himself as ever.

"Well it's clear you haven't been talking to your dearest house mate lately then Big Mac, I thought she would've explained everything to you by now. Address and slut stories included. Then again, you were probably otherwise engaged with Doll Face back there." He smirked, staying lent against the door.

"What the hell are you blithering on about? I haven't been slutting about with anyone! And the only reason she would've gave you my address is if she was as wasted as you were last night. Now get the fuck away from my house." I ranted, before taking a step back to slam the door in his face.

"Not so fast there, sweet cheeks" Stevie said, as he shoved his foot between the door and its frame preventing me from closing it. "We still have things to talk about." He sneered, before he gave the door another shove, managing to break the chain that was preventing him from entering. He pushed me aside, causing me to fall against the wall. Aiden, who had somehow managed to lose his grip on me, grabbed hold of Stevie's shoulder in an attempt to stop him. Stevie simply shrugged him off and sauntered on into the living room. Aiden turned to make sure I was okay, kissing my forehead to comfort me before taking hold of my hand and leading me in the direction Stevie went.

I followed him into the living room, and felt the anger build in me as Stevie came into sight. He was lazing on the sofa, sat in the middle of it with his dirty shoes on my once clean coffee table. He seriously needs to get out of my house.

"What do you want, Stevie?" I said with irritation clear in my voice. He merely looking in my direction and shrugged. "Well then, seeing as you're holding quite an exciting conversation there, why don't I ask you a question?" I smirked with my confidence building somewhat. I led Aiden over to the single seated sofa, signalling for him to sit down, before sitting on the arm beside him. Our hands still entwined. Stevie remained silent, staring at the television which was still on with the volume turned down low. "Seeing as Jenni isn't here, why don't you fill us in?" I said, trying to keep the anger out of my tone. His reply? He turned his head and smirked back, his arrogant face lessening my will power to stay calm.

"Oi, she's talking to you asshole!" Aiden snapped, Stevie's face obviously annoying him as well. He cleared his throat in response, taking his feet of off the table and leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Any chance of a cuppa first? All this drama has made me a rather parched." He said with a straight face, before turning into an arrogant grin. I stared at him, with a straight face, not rewarding him with a response. "I'll take that as a no then," He said before sitting back and putting his feet onto the coffee table again. "I'll start with the slut stories you're headlining in then shall I? The question is which on the open with?" He said, with mock consideration.

"Just get out with it will you? We have better things to do than listen to you blether on all night, you know." Aiden replied, annoyance showing yet again. I tightened my grip on his hand, earning a glance and a brief smile from him.

"I very much doubt you'll want to get cosy with this tramp once you hear this, Doll Face, so I'll just get it over with," He smirked. "In case you haven't heard, my dearest friend Kenny who you met last night is Jenni's cousin and is also her Mollie's ex. They were practically engaged after the first 3 months. The break up, as her friends know it is due to him acting like a spoilt child. The truth on the other hand, is a different story."

"Hang on there a minute, sunshine." I interrupted, "If you're about to blame Mollie for their relationship not working, I'm gunna make sure you never see the light of day" I said, sternly making sure he wasn't going to start stirring things up.

"Oh, no of course not, it's not either of their faults; it's a certain someone's meddling that caused it." He smirked.

"Yea, yours! You wouldn't leave them alone! How hard is it to understand that breaking into Kenny's house while he's taking Mollie out on a date isn't normal behaviour?" I shouted, with Aiden starting to rub circles on the back of my hand with his thumb to subtly calm me down. Stevie laughed in response.

"Oh dear, you really are dimmer than you look aren't you? I never really wanted to admit it, but you really should take note from the saying '_seen and not heard'_." He snarled, leaning forward again.

"You can't talk to her like that! Who the hell do you think you are barging into _h_er house and coming out with stuff like that?" Aiden shouted.

"Pipe down, Doll Face; I haven't got to the good part yet." He smirked, settling back down. "And trust me, you're gunna want to hear this before you jump into bed with thon slut."

"You shut your face! You have no idea what you're talking about!" I snapped at him.

"Oh, I think I do because I'm pretty sure sleeping with your best friends boyfriend does actually make you a slut." He said, dropping the smirk and picking up a deadly menacing glimmer in his eyes.

"There has to be something seriously wrong with you? Are you really so jealous 'cause I haven't looked twice at you that you have to go about making rumours up to ruin things with someone that's actually treating me like an actual person and not a piece of meat?" I yelled, standing from the arm of the sofa with Aiden dropping his grip on my hand. Stevie shrugged, looking very smug with himself.

"I haven't finished yet; do you not want to hear why Gavin and Kirsty split up? Oh wait, I guess not seeing as you're the reason that ended" he said, the smirk reappearing. "Now that I have most of my stories out, I think you and Doll Face here need to have a wee talk. So I shall be seeing you later to finish our wee discussion." He stood and winked at me before making an exit.

"I cannot fucking believe him! He needs shot or something!" I ranted, turning to face Aiden who as still seated on the single sofa. He was sat with a look on his face that I hadn't met yet; it could only be defined as disappointment and regret. "What's wrong?" I said, my anger fading and confusion taking over. "You don't believe him, do you?" I questioned, but he didn't need to reply. The look he was giving me more than made up for it. "Seriously? He's just an arrogant prick who can't stand it when he doesn't get what he wants, or when someone says no!" I ranted, my emotions getting the better of me. Aiden looked up at me and sighed.

"Look, I understand that he's jealous and who knows if that's really true. But what he said, about you sleeping with those guys behind their girlfriends backs? Even your own friend? I can't just drop that and carry on. I know what its like to be cheated on and used, Robyn, and I don't want anything to do with someone who can do things like that and continue with things as if nothings happened. I'm sorry." Aiden said, before he stood and began to make his way across the room.

"Aiden! You don't get it!" I said with apprehension clear in my voice. I followed him, pushing in front and blocking his way to the hall by standing at the door of the living room. "Listen to me, please! I haven't… I mean I've never…" I started, I was never comfortable talking about this kind of thing.

"I don't have time for you're rambling, Robyn. Spit it out already." He snapped, clearly aggravated, and within seconds he turned back to the irritated fella that I bumped into last night; before I needed help to get rid of Stevie.

"You know what? Believe it or not, I've never actually slept with anyone! Yea, I'm a virgin. And I don't plan on that changing any time soon! And even if that wasn't the case, I would never even think about cheating, or making anyone else cheat with me, never mind my best friend! So, if you choose to believe that cretin over me then you're clearly not the person I thought you were. Just get out!" I shouted, moving out of his way.

"Oh I'm sure that's the truth, I know girls like you. Don't lie to people, Robyn; it really doesn't make you look pretty," he sneered as he made his way out the front door.

"Oh, and you're paying for what you broke on my door, asshole!" I yelled down the street after him. He simply lifted one hand out of his pocket and giving me the finger, before lighting up a cigarette and walking round the corner and out of sight. I have never been so angry in all my life. To release some of my frustration a kicked the doorframe and let out a yell. It didn't help as much as I thought it would, and as I turned to rest my forehead against the doorframe to gather my thoughts I noticed movement from next door. I looked to find a rather shocked looking Jacky with his keys in the door and a handful of grocery bags. I smiled, hoping he hadn't caught my public display of annoyance. It was a wasted effort.

"Everything ok?" he asked, the look of worry and concern I'd been getting used to appearing on his face.

"Yes, fine thanks. That was just a slight disagreement over some rumours." I smiled, not wanting to go into any specific details.

"Awful things rumours, should just ignore them I reckon. It'll all work out in the long run of it's meant to though, trust me. Now what were you shouting about you're door?" He replied, seeming more concerned about my locks being broken than any thing else.

"Oh nothing really, the chain's broken just. It's easy fixed; I just need that cretin to fork out the money for it seeing as it's his fault." I smiled.

"No need to go along that road, Love. I'll pick a new one up at work and sort it out for you. I'll pop round tomorrow evening with it, but now I need to get the shopping away before the misses thinks I've been slacking" he said before unlocking his door and disappearing through it. I thanked him and returned inside before deciding on making yet another cup of tea.

At least with my neighbour fixing my door it's one less hassle for me to deal with, now I just have to figure out what the hell Jenni's been gossiping about. I mean, I know she hasn't been the best friend lately, but starting all this about me? That's a tad overdramatic even for this lunatic. So with answers needing to be found, I lifted my phone and called her number. Needless to say that it rang out before the o2 lady rhymed off her answer phone message. I hung up and rang again, getting the same results, except this time I left her a message. Keeping it short and sweet, I simply said, "What the fuck have you done?"


	9. Chapter 9

I hadn't heard from Jenni that night, not that I was expecting to. The odd thing was that I'd got a text from Benjamin, asking if I was ok. Now I know that we're friends and all, but that's not what I consider a normal thing for him to do. I have a feeling he knows more than he's letting on, especially because of his whispering that morning. Deciding on giving up with the drama for the night, and opting to not watch the highlights of last year's x Factor, I went to bed. It was rather early for me to even try to sleep, so I plugged in my ear phones and started listening to my favourite's playlist. With an acoustic cover of 'Perfect Stranger' beginning to play, I rolled over in my bed and drowned out my thoughts. Well I tried; some part of me couldn't let up on the Aiden situation. And this song certainly wasn't helping. However cliché it sounds, the lyrics reminded me of him, of us, not that there was an 'us' to begin with. And the voice of the singer, I didn't know who it was being too lazy to check my iPod, but he was amazing. Yet he sounded so familiar. Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I turned off my iPod and rolled over hoping for some sleep before work tomorrow.

My attempts to sleep were wasted; I should learn to listen when I'm told not to go to bed angry. I was currently wandering through town, having been sent on my lunch but still ferrying after my boss. See, I'm a part time secretary for an electrical firm ran by Mollie's Dad, Maurice. He has to be _the_ most disorganised man alive, stressed by the fact that he'd forgotten to bring the correct paperwork with him for a new contract. So as I scurried through the busier than usual shopping centre trying to find the right shop unit and struggling to keep hold of the notes and contracts I was carrying, my eyes caught sight of the one person I was dreading having to bump into. He wasn't hard to miss, the quiff was a giveaway. I couldn't help but stop and stare as he walked on the other side of the open aired mall, with one hand in his pocket, the other holding an unlit cigarette. He ran a hand through his hair, and glanced in my direction. He must have spotted me, as he stopped in his tracks, causing a pedestrian based traffic jam amongst the shoppers surrounding him. We just stared at each other, neither of us making the move to walk to the other side of the first floor, not wanting to make the first attempt at contact. I was pulled from my thoughts as my phone starting ringing. Reminding of why I was out of the office in the first place. I shut my eyes, and turned away, struggling to ignore him and follow through with my delivery. So I opened my eyes, and continued my walk onwards, not looking back at him. He made himself perfectly clear on his opinions last night before he stormed out. If he wants me, he'll have to make the first move. Not that I've had much experience in playing 'hard to get' or whatever you call it, but my familiarity with such happenings is from watching Mollie and Katie.

Half an hour or so later, I was sent out of the way from the business talk and on a proper lunch break. This was a rare occurrence, but seeing as I'd thought ahead and managed to organise the paperwork before trudging across the city centre with it, I took it as a thanks from Maurice. Now I had the spare time, I opted for a suitable meal, rather than a rushed something that never satisfied my hunger between duties on my days in the office. With that in mind, I made my way to the centre of the shopping mall and began my ascent to the restaurants on the top floor. I was caught up in the possibilities of a decent meal, as well as stressing slightly over having to eat on my own in public. Amongst my pondering and panicking, I hadn't recognised who was standing some mere feet in front of me on the escalator. Having Aiden and I in the same shopping centre can be taken as a coincidence, seeing as it wasn't exactly planned. But with Stevie being here as well, this still seems to be a fluke. And as I neared the next level of the mall, a certain quiff wearer appeared in my eye line. He was looking in my direction, almost as if he knew where I'd be heading. But as I moved off the escalator, and stopped just out of way from the oncoming pedestrians, it became obvious that he was waiting for someone else; but not just anyone, the certain someone who was standing in front of me seconds previously. This had to be prearranged. It's just too far fetched for my liking, something was up.

Amongst my frustration and confusion, I decided upon breaking the 'hard to get' rule and phone Aiden to see what the hell he was playing at. I pulled my BlackBerry out, seeing that my missed call from earlier was from Aiden himself. Not that I was paying much attention to what he was doing, seeing as I was lost in his eyes during our staring match. Shaking the positive thoughts of him out of my head, I rang his number, and turned to walk towards the restaurants, briefly glancing back at the two fellas. I'd made it to the forth ring, before the generic telephone operator started into her message, and as I glanced back again, I just about saw Aiden shove his phone back into his pockets and walk in the opposite direction with Stevie in tow. This had just totally spoilt my mood, not that I was in particularly good one to begin with. With that rejection not quite bottled up, I stormed into McDonalds got a take away meal, and made my way back to the office. Not quite a proper lunch, but it's the best I'm willing to cope with right now.

With my McDonalds meal in one hand, and my bag upon my shoulder, I typed the pin into the keypad to get into the offices, and trudged up stairs to the main office and the kitchen area. Sitting there, happily tucking into his lunch was Benjamin. With him being a fully trained electrician and all, he did manage to get a job in his Dad's business. I shut the door, dropped my food on the table, my bag on the floor, and flicked the kettle on to make some tea; then just slumped into the nearest chair while flinging my phone onto the table.

"What's wrong with you?" Benjamin asked, with a somewhat surprised tone and a mouth full of food.

"Boys are dicks" I stated, annoyance still building, and not linking my sentence to my audience.

"Thanks very much!" He scoffed after swallowing his mouthful, the chuckled lightly.

"No, you don't count. It's that dick Stevie, he's just gone and spread a load of bullshit to Aiden! And obviously, the idiot's believed him" I ranted, before tucking into my McDonalds lunch. "Oh, and on my way to meet your Daddy with some paperwork, I just so happened to spot them meeting up for a man date!" I said between bites.

"Oh right", Benjamin said not looking overly surprised. "We thought you knew?" He asked with confusion evident on his face.

"I knew no such thing!" I exclaimed, "And what the hell do you mean _we_?"

"Well, let me see if I can get this right. Meeky had said about Jenni talking to Kenny and Stevie about needing a word with Aiden. So I thought they'd be meeting sooner or later. Mollie and Katie were even gossiping about it this morning on their way up the road." He explained, thinking it all made perfect sense. The look on my face must've proven otherwise. "Did they not tell you?"

"Obviously not, and I very much doubt Jenni and her fan base will have told you what kind of meeting they had planned for last night then?" He looked just as confused as I did moments previously. So I started into explaining the events of yesterday, phone calls and rumours included. Benjamin had just sat there, with a blank face, listening. And that face hadn't changed when I'd finished my rant. "Ukgh, you're useless! Why did I even bother talking to you about this?" I complained.

"Oi! When have I ever not been there to help? It's not like I haven't bothered before. You've never needed me; there's always been one of the girls there for this kinda thing. And you're more than capable of finding yourself a bloke to fend off creeps for you. So excuse me for not having up to date drama remedies!" He snapped, grabbing the remains of his lunch and walking out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Well that went better than expected. I bundled up my half eaten food and shoved it in the bin, not feeling very hungry after all. I made myself that cup of tea, before picking up my phone and trying to get through to Aiden again. One ring, two rings, three rings, four. As I was about to hang up, figuring if he didn't want to talk to before, waiting half an hour wasn't going to make it any better, a deep voice spoke from the other line.

"Hello?" Aiden answered rather cheerily, clearly not checking the name of the caller before picking up the phone.

"What the hell are you meeting with that creature Stevie for?" I fired straight off, not feeling the need for any small talk to delay the inevitable argument.

"Oh, hello Robyn. I'm good, thanks for asking! How are you?" He rhymed of cheerily, sarcasm seeping through every word.

"I'm serious, you dick. What the hell are you doing even talking to that cretin after what he's done?" I snapped, yet again.

"That's none of your business, I'll have you know. It's not like you need to know every single part of my life, then again a controlling little skank like you would probably feel the need to" He said in monotone.

"I told you! I've never even looked twice at those fellas! Why are you taking his fucking side? You couldn't stand the creature the other night!" I exclaimed with confusion and annoyance building within me.

"That's before I heard your back story, I've already told you why I can't even think about getting with you. The whole idea of what you've done is just bringing up some bad memories." He said before clearing his throat, letting more emotion show through his voice than I'd expect he wanted to.

"Oh, so you hear one rumour of me being a dirty slut and go off running? Then have the utter cheek to churn out some sop story about being heartbroken? Excuse me while I play my violin." I snapped, my patience wearing thin. I sighed, to try and gain my composure before starting up again. "It's all total and utter bullshit, Aiden. I have never in my life been more honest than when I say it's not true" I said, fighting off the tingling feeling in my nose that always results in tears coming shortly after.

"I just can't, Robyn. I've heard it all before, and chose to dismiss it all. It's obvious that I was wrong on that judgement, so even if there's a just a slight chance of any of this being true, I need to find out. The idea of it all actually makes me feel sick." He said softly, seeming to be struggling to keep fending me off. "So I need to know the full story from Stevie, I needed to hear it all, and have the time to figure this all out." He explained, with more determination that he'd shown previously during this phone call.

"You'd already heard it all, from me and from him! You're just giving him the opportunity to stir even more shit about me. He's fucking jealous that I was willing to give you the time of day, and didn't even look once at him. I'm the one telling the truth here, and if you can't acknowledge that, then you really aren't the person I thought you were." With that brief rant, I ended the call dropped my phone on the table I was still sitting at and rested my head in my hands trying to gather my thoughts. Needless to say, those actions never work and I was soon struggling to keep the tears away. I was in way to deep, and I don't even understand how. He's just a boy, why so I care so much what he thinks?

With any chance of being in a good mood today completely gone, I figured it couldn't get much worse so I dialled the number I had saved for Jenni and pressed call. Not that I was expecting her to answer, but I have some serious questions for her and she wont be able to avoid me forever. After the call ringing out, much to my surprise, I picked up my bag, phone, and the long awaited cup of tea before heading to the main office and to my desk.

I managed to keep my head together for the rest of my day at work, as well as keeping clear of Benjamin and thus saving me from having yet another argument. With all my notes packed away, the computer shut down, and my bag in hand I made my way out of the office, into Herbert the Clio, and was on the 5 minute drive home. I soon was parked up, grabbing my keys and bag before leaving the car and unlocking the door. As I stepped over the threshold, a blue 106 pulled up behind my car with an overly happy Jenni inside. This was not a going to be a pleasant conversation. Before any more messy arguments started, I dumped my bag and keys, by the now shut door, stepped out of my pumps, and made my way into the living room before collapsing on the sofa and waiting for the battle to commence.

"Hiya! Meeky's busy tonight so I'm all yours. Bu-ut I'm starved, so do you fancy take out for dinner?" Jenni yelled as she made her way into the house, dumping her bags beside the door, and making her way into the living room where I was sitting. I just kept flicking through the channels on TV, waiting for her pathetic nice act to fade and the anger and spite to start seeping through. "Hello, earth to Robyn? What do you fancy for tea?" She asked, sitting in the arm chair and turning to face me.

"Get what you want, I'm not hungry." I said in a monotone, gaining a confused look from her. Not wanting to put up with more of her fakery, I stood up and left the room grabbing my things from by the door and heading upstairs to my room. I rummaged through my bag, finding my BlackBerry and sending a quick text to Mollie confirming our lunch date for tomorrow. As I was contemplating ringing Benjamin to figure out what got his knickers in a twist at lunch, Jenni appeared at my door with a rather annoyed look on her face.

"What's up your arse?" She asked, stepping into my room and folding her arms in an attempt to look stern.

"Nothing, people are dicks. But that's nothing you need to be involved in" I smiled, grabbing my laptop and sitting on my bed.

"Are you only finding this out now? I thought we'd had the 'everyone's a twat' conversation years ago, dear." She laughed, unfolding her arms and sitting on the desk chair in the corner of my room. "But what's with the cold shoulder?" se questioned, returning the conversation to a more serious note.

"I could very well ask you the same question, but then again I'm not that bloody nosey!" I snapped my patience getting thin yet again today.

"Excuse me? What the hell have I done to you?" She exclaimed. Her acting must be getting better; the shock on her face almost looked real.

"You know very well, and I'm pretty sure a certain cousin and creep of a mate will give you a hint" I stated, giving up on getting any social networking done and setting my laptop to one side.

"You mean Kenny and Stevie? What have they done? And more importantly, what have I done to encourage them?" she asked seemingly taunting me, appearing to be getting bored of playing the innocent one in the argument.

"Don't you dare play dim with me, I know you better than you think I do. Well, I used to anyway. Your latest scheme seems to have proven otherwise. You've never had an issue with me getting fellas before. Is it because I've never had a second meeting with them, and actually shown an interest in them? Or it is just cause this one hasn't been pre-approved by you? But then, the ones you have recommended have definitely been above the mark like!" I ranted, daring to build the argument up another level. "I just have some questions though, dare I ask. Why me? Why now?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know the answer.

"Are you kidding me? You've been too selfish and picky for your own good, any boy I've even mentioned to you it's been a straight away no from you! To be honest, we were all starting to think you played for the other team, if you catch my drift. But you're wee Benjamin's always been strongly against this idea. I reckon he has a bit of a thing for you, think that's why he's been in such an iffy mood with you since you started pining after mister superhero from the weekend." She snarled out, seeming happy with her little rant as she sat back in the chair and started picking at her nails.

"I can't help it if all the so called 'boys' you recommend to me look as if you've found them round the back of a dump! That doesn't make me a lesbian though! Benjamin doesn't have a thing for me; he's just protective seeing as I'm like his sister. And I have never in my life pined after someone, and that includes Aiden!" I yelled, with all my tolerance for her bullshit totally gone.

"Oh" She said. That was it, for a good 5 minutes. Nothing but total silence, until she stood, walked to the door and simply stated, "I guess you don't pay much attention to celeb gossip then, do you?" before storming downstairs.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I'm so pleased people are actually reading this, and I know I'm slacking a bit on updates (I'm trying to fix this!). But if anyone would mind leaving me a bit of feedback, negative or otherwise, I'd be a happy person forever! :)

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><p>I'd sat going over the argument; out of shock, and anger. I knew that I shouldn't go straight after Jenni, I wouldn't be doing anything helpful for myself. I got that she could be a right stroppy bitch sometimes, but I couldn't believe the things she was saying. I did live with her after all, but to start all this? That was causing me some confusion.<p>

I spent half an hour sitting on my bed, just battling over whether or not to search for Aiden online and try figure out what Jenni was going on about. In the end, I decided not to cave into her antics. Well, not completely. I left my laptop on my bed, opting to not look through the celebrity magazines she mentioned and went after her. She was sat on the armchair, happily tucking into the junk food from the kitchen cupboards, while watching some annoying reality TV program.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped, my anger not quite gone. She merely feigned a confused look in my direction and continued eating. "Fuck sake, Jenni. Stop acting like such a moody bitch! What's your problem anyway? No, wait. Tell me figure it out. You've got bored of Meeky again, God knows why though. He worships the ground you walk on, and 'cause you're so fucking spoilt you can't stand watching some sort of excitement happen in someone else's love life. Is that it?" I rambled, aggression getting the better of me once again. I sat on the sofa, turning to face her, waiting for a response. But she waited, with a blank expression on her face, as she set the packets of food on the floor beside the arm chair. After she'd tidied herself up, she sat up crossed her legs, and then decided to speak.

"Don't you even pretend to know what its like; you haven't even slept with a total randomer, never mind had a boyfriend! He's like a puppy, following me about everywhere I go. It makes me sick. And this _excitement_ or what ever you want to call it, in your love life is hardly fair. After you not even having a care about having any sort of romantic involvement, you're completely oblivious to the fact that you have Stevie and Benjamin both pining over you. Then of course another fella gets added to the list when you go on a drunken night out and get 'saved' by some sort of prince charming! It's fucking ridiculous! You're not even fucking pretty." She ranted maliciously, her voice increasing to a shout as the speech went on, and a dramatic hand wave at with the last sentence to add to her frustrated tantrum.

"Oh my God, you're just jealous! Pure _jealous_ of the fact that I have the freedom to pick a fella to be with, without having to tear the heart out of someone else to get there. And to top it all off you're even more pissed off at the fact that I choose to do absolutely nothing about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered you want to be me so much, even if that would make you ugly as sin. Then again, I don't quite get this whole thing, 'cause when exactly has Meeky ever stopped you from pulling a fella?" I commented with raise of my eyebrow, not caring for her annoyance. "What ever happens with Aiden and I, it's none of your fucking business! As for my two apparent 'love interests' or whatever you want to call them; Stevie looks like something you'd find down the back of the fridge, and has less intelligence than a bloody gorilla. And I've already explained to you that Benjamin and I are just friends, he's like a brother to me! That's just _sick_!" I explained, frustration building yet again. But instead of Jenni ranting at me again however, she was doubled over laughing. "I don't have time for this shit" I grumbled before, getting up off of the sofa and leaving the room.

I made my way back upstairs, and into my room, trying to drown out her cackling from the front room. I changed into a set of comfortable pyjamas, figuring that I'd be in for the night. I lifted my phone from my bed where I'd left it from texting Mollie, to find she had replied, confirming the time and place for lunch tomorrow, and asked about my Aiden situation. Seeing as the story was a tad too complicated to explain over a text, and I was too lazy to even attempt it, I pushed the call button on my BlackBerry and waited for her to pick up.

"Hiya Love, what's the gossip?" She said, answering after three rings.

"Hiya. Well first off, there is no 'me and Aiden', and I'm about to have a room to rent if you know anyone needing one." I said, calmer than I expected to be.

"Wait, what? How come Jenni's moving out? And why aren't you and Aiden getting it on?" She rambled out, confusion clear in her voice.

"First off, Jenni's a lying scheming little bitch with nothing better to do with her time than ruin any chances I have of a love life at all. And she's also the reason why Aiden's turned into a right dick and sided with the arseholes that have stupidly gone along with her plan!" I said, still somehow managing to stay somewhat calm.

"Hold up! Start from the very beginning! What the hell has been going on?" She nearly shouted down the phone.

"There's too much to explain over the phone dear, and I'd rather get my head sorted before I go over it all again. I'll tell you it all tomorrow at lunch?" I said, exhausted by this whole situation.

"I can wait 'till tomorrow if you want, but you sound like you need the rant and feedback now. I'm just in Daddy's office, waiting on Katie to get out of work, but she's going to be a while I think. Want me to walk to yours?" She said, her voice full of the concern that I was getting all too familiar with.

"I'd rather get out of here to be honest, don't want to anger the beast and what not, you know? How's about I pick you up from the office and we go for a KFC?" I replied, remembering the new fast food restaurant that opened down the road.

"Food sounds amazing, dear. See you in a few!" She cheerily replied before ending the call. Now to just get changed into something that's not my jammies in order to leave the house without getting odd looks from passers by.

Around 10 minutes later, I was pulling back into the office car park, dressed in a pair of demin jeggings, a plain vest top, and an over sized cardigan. I grabbed my BlackBerry out of my bag, and text Mollie letting her know I was outside. Soon, we were both on our way to the nearest fast food restaurant, albeit in silence. Which was due to me trying to sort out all the recent happenings in my mind before starting into any explanations .

I'd parked up, and we both wandered in, and ordered our food. Mollie was clearly eager to get stuck into the gossip I had for her, and stalked off in search of a quiet table, leaving me to carry the trays.

"Right!" Mollie exclaimed, sitting down at the chosen table and looking up at me in expectation. I simply set the food down, sat opposite her, and began nibbling at my chips. "Oi, spill!" she all be shouted, excitement and impatience getting the better of her.

"Ok, calm yourself, dear! You should be amazed I was able to leave the house without stabbing that bitch, never mind keep quiet for the past 2 minutes." I said, half laughing. With no need for any more prompting from Mollie, I started into the whole story beginning with bumping into Aiden when I was out for dinner with the family. I was getting more and more agitated as my explanation went on, and Mollie just sat, nibbling away at her food, and expressing the odd comment every now and again. I finished with me storming up the stairs after Jenni had began her laughing fit over my rant, and popped a piece of chicken into my mouth.

"Jesus Christ! How the hell have you kept so calm? I would've had her face in pieces if I were you! Has she even tried to justify any of it?" She questioned, shocked at the insanity of the way in which Jenni's mind works.

"Of course not, she's bloody mad like. Obviously couldn't be bothered just explaining to me that she didn't like Aiden, or even trying to ignore the whole situation, she goes and blows it all up! Well, she has said that Meeky's doing her head in acting like a lost puppy and following her all the time. Not that we should be surprised about that, she doesn't give a shit about him like. But I mean, even the comment about him being in those celeb magazines was just to get me paranoid. Total fucking nut job!" I rambled, before nibbling at a bit more of my food; the end of my rant earning a confused look from Mollie.

"We should've known like, seeing as Kenny's bloody mental too! Not forgetting that brother of hers." She said, "But what are you going to do now?" she questioned, skipping past my last comment.

"Well what can I do? I don't want to talk to that dick anymore; he's made his decision perfectly clear. And I'm definitely not going to stir up any shit with Jenni, if I annoy her again Jesus knows what she'll do! Probably end up faking some Aiden gossip from the media to pester me something ridiculous like that" I rambled, trying to make sense of a more dramatic situation than I'm used to.

"Hah, yea… sounds like something she'd do." Mollie said, seeming distracted as she avoided looking in my direction as she spoke. There's something she's not telling me. But before I could open my mouth to question her odd behaviour, Katie appeared. She bounced into the chair beside me, grabbed some of Mollie's chips, before asking to catch her up on the gossip. I let Mollie fill her in, while I nibbled some more of my food.

"Oh my God, what the hell is wrong with her? She's actually insane!" Katie exclaimed, grabbing my drink and taking a sip.

"Tell me about, I'm the one bloody living with her! You haven't even heard about her saying Aiden's some sort of celebrity in the gossip magazines for fuck sake!" I said, mentioning it yet again as Mollie left it out moments previously. This however, earned the two sisters sharing a look of what can only be described as an internal argument over this piece of news which they've yet to tell me about. "Ok, seriously! What aren't you telling me here?" I questioned, earning yet another look being exchanged between the two sisters. "Either of you care to share?" I prompted.

"Look, Robyn, We know Jenni's said a lot of shit lately. But this Aiden thing you're going on about -" Katie started.

"Eh, I thought we'd decided to not tell her? You know, let her figure it out on her own?" Mollie interrupted, pulling a similar face to earlier trying to emphasise her point.

"She's bound to find out at some point, so why not now, and from us? Or would you rather it was on the street out of pure accident, or better yet from that bitch Jenni?" Katie said, clearly starting to get annoyed.

"Hello? This 'she' you're arguing over is sitting right here! Or are you having a conversation about the cat's mother?" I questioned, yet again with my patience wearing thin. They just sat there, avoiding eye contact with me and glaring at each other. "You know what, fine! I can take a hint, thanks for being so honest and helpful in my time of need" I said, sarcasm clear in my tone. I stood, moving my seat out of the way and walked out, ignoring their attempting to call me back.

I was just out the door walking along the outside of the building towards Herbert while searching through my bag to find my car keys. As I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, I hit something. With this being me, I managed to lose my footing on the flat pavement and the fall to the ground and my keys flying out of my bag as well as the rest of its contents. Choosing to not find out what it was that I'd just walked into, I lifted myself off the ground just enough to let me sit back down on the pavement, dust myself off and shove everything back into my big black bag. Keeping my eyes to the ground, I had my keys in the hand I was using to keep my bag open, making sure I wasn't going to loose then twice in the same place. I was about to lift my purse when a familiar hand appeared, grabbing hold of my make up bag. I stopped, my eyes following the hand, towards one of the many faces I was trying to get away from. I looked away, shoved the contents of my hand and what I'd thrown on the ground into my bag. I grabbed my makeup bag from his hand before throwing it in as well, trying to ignore him. As I put my arm through the handles of my bag and lifted myself up, I realised he hadn't quite realised that I was in no mood for him as the same arm I stared at earlier appeared around my waist and pulled me to my feet.

"I can manage just fine thanks," I snapped, shrugging out of his grip and dusting myself off again, while taking a step back from him.

"I think we need to talk, Robyn." He said, taking a step forward to shorten the distance between us.

"You've made you're self perfectly clear, I don't think I need to hear a repeat of our last conversation." I said, my anger slowly fading as I tried and failed to step back again as I hit a wall. "Now if you don't mind, I have things to do, Aiden" I said, stepping sideways and continuing towards my car.

"I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry there, seems to me that you're missing something out of that suitcase of yours" He called over, causing me to slow my pace and rummage through my bag. I could just imagine the smug look on his face as I realised I didn't have my phone. I closed my eyes and took a breath, in an attempt to muster up some courage, before opening them and turning to find him standing in the same spot I left him, with my BlackBerry in his hand. "Thought that would get your attention," he laughed cheerily. "Can we have that talk now?" He questioned, the smirk on his face changing into a smile of hope. I merely held my hand out and put my other hand on my hip, not I the mood for his games.

"What don't you understand when I say I'm busy? Give me my phone or I'm going to be late" I said, with not even nearly enough stubbornness as intended. He could see straight through me, knowing full well I had bugger all to do tonight.

"Well then, why don't I tag along? And we can have this wee chat on your way." He replied, his smug smirk returning as he sauntered towards while me putting my phone in the back pocket of his trousers. He wrapped his arm around my waist once again, and pulled me in the opposite direction of Herbert.

"Eh, where the hell do you think you're going?" I questioned, confusion taking over from my slight panic. "My cars over there," I said pointing to where I was walking towards moments previously.

"I did come here for food, babe. And seeing as you're already late, what's a couple more minutes' gunna do?" He said smiling yet again, as if it was the most normal situation ever.

"So you weren't just stalking me then? Shame, I was looking forward give you a few bruises to teach you a lesson." I replied, pouting my lips in an overdramatic look of disappointment.

"I'm sure you can still cause me some pain, if you're into that kind of thing." He winked, before stopped suddenly and planting his lips on mine. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on, as my lips began moving with his. It took a while longer before I remembered why this was supposed to be a bad thing. But seeing as we were already busy, I moved my arms to hug his waist. I then trailed my hands down towards his pack pockets, grabbing hold of my phone in the process. Before long, I'd managed to shove him off of me and give him a slap, before swearing at him and making my way back to my car with my phone and car keys still in hand and smirk of my own plated on my face.

I was in, with my seat belt on and the engine on ready to drive off before I remembered why I had even spoke to him in the first place. Once that memory was at the forefront of my mind, the rest followed. Things like getting rid of Stevie in the club, to coming to mine while the same creep stalked me, filled my head. With the realisation of my falling for him before Jenni ruined everything, my head hit the steering wheel, taking deep breaths trying to keep myself calm.


	11. Chapter 11

I must have been sitting with my head against steering wheel of my car for a while, because the next thing I know is the passenger door opening, and someone's getting in the seat beside me. The smell of their KFC clung to them, but I knew exactly who it was. Even with the stench of greasy chicken following him, I could still tell who it was. I didn't bother lifting my head to make sure I was right, not that it stopped him from making himself comfortable. He sat the food on his lap, readjusted the seat, before putting his seatbelt on and turning to towards me. I'd finally sat up, staring at him with an eyebrow raised and a look of annoyance clear on my face.

"Right babe, where are we for then?" Aiden questioned with a mischievous smirk on his face. I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair, not wanting to deal with him just yet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?_ We_ are going nowhere, get out of my car!" I yelled in annoyance, mostly at myself for not locking the doors once I was in. I may as well have been speaking in Gaelic for all the use it did, he just sat and smiled at me. I held my gaze, glaring at him and pointed out of the passenger door window. Realising I wasn't going to be getting out of this anytime soon, I turning the engine off then took my keys out of the ignition, I grabbed my bag before getting out of the car. I was just going to leave him there, walk home and hope Herbert would still be there when I'd go to drive him home later. Well that was my plan until Aiden got out of my car and jogged over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to slow me down to talk. I shrugged him off, turned and locked Herbert with the button on my keys, and picked up my pace towards home.

"Robyn, please? I really need to talk to you!" He almost shouted, still following me. I stopped, turning to face him not wanting to cope with the stress of the situation right now. He stopped in front of me, closer than I'd expected, with a hopeful look on his face.

"Leave me alone! I don't want to know, and I don't want to care. So please, just get out of my face!" I snapped before walking back the way I'd just came shoving him out of my way.

I'd managed to get into my car, have the engine on and the doors locked before realising that Aiden had left his food sitting in the foot well of the passenger seat. Scoffing in yet more annoyance, I grabbed the take out bag before putting the driver side window down and dropping it outside the car. With the stench of greasy chicken lessened slightly, I took a deep breath before flinging into gear and reversing out of the parking space. Deciding to fill my tank before going home rather than drive about town on petrol fumes, I drove past a rather glum looking Aiden who was walking in the direction of the town centre.

Half an hour later, after getting petrol and buying too much junk food for 3 people never mind me on my own, I'd parked up outside my house. I sighed in frustration as I looked up to find Aiden sitting on top of my garden wall with a cigarette in his mouth and his phone in hand. I resumed my previous position of sitting with my head on the steering wheel, trying to think of way to get out of this. My plotting didn't last long, as a few minutes later there was a knock on the passenger side window of my car. Knowing full well it was Aiden; I just hit the button to put the window down as I sat up and waited for his comments.

"Are you planning on getting out anytime soon? It's just that I do actually have things to talk to you about, Robyn. You're just preventing the inevitable." Aiden said matter of factly, staring at me from the passenger side window.

"Well I don't have anywhere to go anymore, seeing as you've made me stupidly late for where I was supposed to be going tonight. As well as the fact that I can't even go home without you stalking me, I guess I should be looking forward to what bullshit you're going to come out with. And with the amount of time you spent with Stevie today, his dimness has bound to have had an effect on you." I replied, putting window up again before taking my keys out of the ignition and deciding to just face the music.

Aiden stood back from Herbert, and followed me to the front door, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I shook out of his grip and stuck my key in the door to get in. I'd guessed that Jackie had been over, as the broken chain he promised to replace was gone and an intact one was now preventing me from entering my own home. I sighed and rested my head against the slightly opened door, knocking on the frosted glass hoping who ever was inside would let me in. I could hear the TV in the living room, but no movement from whoever was inside. I knocked again, lifting my head and turning to face Aiden. He was standing behind me, looking around himself, with a lit cigarette in one hand and his phone in the other still.

"Not keeping you back, am I?" I asking, hoping he had to go so I could get out of this chat he wanted so badly. He shook his head and grinned at me before taking a drag of his cigarette. I sighed, and pushed past him grabbing my phone from inside my car before walking towards the entry to the alley way behind my end terrace to try and get in through the back door. It was a long shot, seeing as we always keep the yard door locked, but I still had hope. At the same time, I tried calling Jenni on both the house phone and her mobile. As expected, the door was locked and both calls rang out.

Giving up on getting into my house, I headed back the way I came finding Aiden sitting on the wall on his phone. He ended the call abruptly as soon as he heard me walking towards the front of my house, standing up to put out his cigarette and sliding his phone into his back pocket.

"So, what's occurring now then?" He smiled, heading towards my car.

"Well seeing as I've been locked out of my own house, I've not a clue what I'm doing now." I snapped at him; clearly aggravated by the fact that Jenni had locked me out.

"How's about you stay at mine then, don't want a pretty face out on the streets now do I?" He offered, with tones of sincerity in his voice. I laughed at how ridiculous his question was, as I unlocked Herbert and got in the drivers seat once again.

"I'd rather sleep in my parent's house than going back to yours, Love. And that's saying something, 'cause I've had more nights sleeping on the back seat than I have in that house since I've moved out." I replied at he sat back in the passenger seat. "And what makes you think that you're going to be staying with me?" I questioned, not amused by the fact that I still wasn't getting rid of him any time soon.

"Who else have you got to keep you company? You're house mate's locked you out, and you don't seem to be running to any one else right now." He pointed out, putting his seatbelt on. "And you never know when Stevie's going to start pestering you again" he added, trying to add even more stress to the situation. He just stared at me in expectation, waiting for a reply.

"Ehh, I haven't even went running to you, you're fucking stalking me outside KFC like a creep! And it just so happens that none of _my_ friends are talking to me 'cause of a certain fella I met on Saturday night, I wonder if you know him. He's a right twat, just like you! Here's a hint: It's _not_ Stevie!" I shouted, showing more aggravation that I'd liked.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He shouted back, obviously confused over my comment. "And where the hell is my food?" He questioned, annoyance clear on his face from realising his KFC was no longer in my car. I merely scoffed in reply, unable to voice my anger in any other way. "Hello? I am actually talking to you here!" He shouted again.

I had the engine on, and had just put Herbert into gear then swung out of the parking space outside my house, choosing to ignore his question as I struggled to think of a location to go to. Probably realising that I wasn't going answer anytime soon, and getting bored of the awkward silence he put the radio on. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, fighting to not glance in his direction, as I headed towards the town centre. He'd managed to flick through all the stations continuously, unable to find a song he wanted to listen to. I glared at him, and flipped the radio over to MP3. The playlist I'd been listening to on my iPod the night before filled the car, thankfully avoiding the cover of 'perfect stranger' being played first. It wasn't exactly the song I wanted to listen to at this very moment; it would've managed to make this journey even more awkward.

I skipped the first song, which happened to be one of the xFactor's charity singles. I just wasn't planning on the shuffle setting to start playing the song I wanted to avoid on this car journey. The acoustic version of 'perfect stranger' caused Aiden to freeze just has he was opening his mouth to make yet another snide comment, no doubt. He simply stared at me with his mouth still open, pointing at the car radio.

"I knew Stevie would increase you're stupidity, Aiden, but making you dumb is a bit over the top even in my book." I sniped, turning the volume down and struggling to find somewhere to go in town. "And if that is you're attempt at asking me who's singing, I couldn't tell you. It's a playlist from a friend at uni. Apparently my knowledge of music needs expanding, hence the random xFactor songs." His eyes narrowed as he nodded in response to me, before closing his mouth and clearing his throat.

"So you honestly have _no_ idea who this is?" He questioned, pointing at the radio and looking rather surprised. I shook my head in confusion, beginning to drive in circles around the city centre. "Got any other songs by this bloke then?" He asked, while flicked through the rest of the songs.

"I have no idea, now quit breaking my car." I said, slapping his hand away from the stereo. He sat with a dramatic horror struck face, holding his hand in mock pain. "Oh wise up and tell me where the hell I'm supposed to be going here" I snapped. He sighed, running a hand through his messy quiff before signalling the way to where he was staying.

The rest of the journey was silent, I wasn't particularly paying much attention to my surroundings, trying to avoid as much conversation with my passenger as possible while listening to the songs from the playlist I'd selected. Turns out there were more songs by the unknown perfect stranger singer, much to Aiden's amusement not that he cared enough to explain it to me.

I ended up parking near a budget hotel in the centre of town, not too far from the club where Aiden and I first met only a couple of days ago. Aiden got out of the car and walked round to my door, as I switched the engine off and grabbed my bag from the back seat, leaving my junk food in the car, and climbing out. Aiden had wrapped his arm around my waist as soon as I had Herbert locked and my keys in my bag. I managed to shrug out of his grip, causing him to shove his hands in his pockets and maintaining a rather uncomfortably close distance to me as we headed towards his hotel. It wasn't until he started mumbling things in annoyance and wrapping the same arm around my waist, tighter than before that I noticed the crowd of people outside the hotel we were headed towards I tried and failed to get his arm off of me; he merely stiffened his grip on me.

"Aiden, what the hell is going on?" I questioned, slowing down, not understanding the situation he was putting me in.

"I'll explain later, but now you need to stick with me and keep your head down" He said, dragging me along and quickening my pace again. My confusion was ever increasing, and with him not helping matters. I just stopped walking, causing Aiden to stumble and stop beside me.

"I mean it, Aiden! I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why the fuck there's paparazzi and girls screaming right outside the hotel you're dragging me into!" I said making my stubbornness clear in my tone and by folding my arms across my chest. He ran his free hand through his floppy quiff, and sighed before placing his hands on my hips and looking straight into my eyes.

"And I said I'll explain it to you, just not right now. Concentrate on getting inside first, then I'll answer whatever questions you want to fire at me." He said with sincerity clear in this voice. With that, all my determination had completely melted away. He then wrapped the same arms around my waist again, and pulled me towards the entrance yet again. I didn't put up a fight after that, I was too busy struggling to figure out what was going on and trying to fend off the positive thought of Aiden. Still lost in thoughts of confusion and annoyance, both caused by the fella I've only know for 2 days, I was literally dragged through the screaming crowds outside the hotel.

Aiden kept his grip on me while we walked through reception, even as we stood in the lift. He hit the button for the top floor, cleared his throat and ran his free hand through his hair again. I managed to get out of his grip, which took a lot more effort than I was expecting, and stood in the corner with my arms folded.

"Well?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. He glanced at me before avoiding eye contact and leaning back against the elevator wall. I sighed a rolled my eyes, seeing as he dragged me into this mess he could at least be decent enough to explain what exactly 'this mess' was. "You've finally got me wanting to have this talk you've been stalking me over. And I'm not going anywhere until you start explaining" I said, earning another glance and a sigh from him.

He still refused to answer, so we remained silent until we got to his room; he slid his key card through the lock and opened the door for me to walk in first. As expected, the room was typical for a budget hotel. What I wasn't anticipating however, was the room to be a rather large twin with both double beds being noticeably unmade indicating he was sharing. I walked to the window, stood with my back against it, and raised an eyebrow at Aiden. He was grabbing random items of clothing off of the floor and shoving them into one of the wardrobes in an attempt to clean up. He looked up at me, with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face.

"Don't mind me, we weren't expecting company" He said, laughing slightly before haphazardly making one of the beds. "Make yourself comfortable" He said, gesturing me to sit down on the still rather messy bed, then flopping down on the other. I remained standing, with my arms folded and stern look on my face ever growing.

"I'm not here to get comfortable, Aiden. You wanted to talk. And here I am so spill!" I said, unfolding my arms to drop my bag on the floor beside me, and leaning against the window sill behind me.

"Ok, fine" he said, sitting up on the bed. "You have to promise me though, before I start explaining anything, don't talk, don't think or judge until you've heard everything" he finished, staring at me with a whole hearted look of apprehension and dread flowing through his eyes.

This is going to be a long night…


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I got my first review after the last chapter! Thanks so much! :) Sorry its taking so long to write each one, life's a bit busy at the minute. Anyways, Enjoy! Tell me what you think, hopefully that will get more writing out of me! x

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><p>I can't wrap my head around it all. I'm lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. I couldn't help but wonder how I managed to get myself into this situation in the first place; I mean I've never exactly been the kind of girl to even meet up with a fella, never mind get this far. Although, being practically stalked by said bloke, as well as arguing with my closest friends, and being locked out by my housemate may have influenced me somewhat into my current predicament. I was uselessly willing myself to stop going over the past couple of hours again and again in my head. As I was becoming increasingly annoyed with myself for not being able to block out any thoughts of <em>him<em>, my mind automatically drifted back to mere hours ago and the reason Aiden was wanting to talk to me in the first place.

_He made himself comfortable by sitting with his back against the head board of the bed and taking a deep breath. It was almost as if he was stalling on purpose, now that he had my attention, seeing as I had no where else to go, he was going to make me sweat a bit. Hoping to hurry him up a bit, I cleared my throat and folded my arms again, giving him a look of impatience as well. _

_"Right, OK. So, erm… Fuck-" He started_

_"-Aiden, I do plan on getting some sleep this week." I cut him off, making my annoyance clear in my tone._

_"Well I was too busy trying to get you to sit down and listen, I didn't really think as far ahead as actually trying to explain it all to you. It's been hard enough wrapping my head around it all myself." He admitted, running a hand nervously through his hair. "And you're supposed to be staying quiet to let me talk!" He added in a stern voice, trying to cover up his nerves. _

_"And I would be if you had anything to say besides incoherent mumbling" I replied, "So, if you're actually going to say what you've dragged me here for, I'll happily sit quietly and listen" I finished, with a small smirk on my face. _

_"You say that as if you're threatening to leave if I don't start explaining myself, as if you have somewhere to go" He said, has he took his phone out of his pocket at laid back against the headboard with his arms behind his head. "You're forgetting that I'm being a proper gentleman letting you sleep in my bed, rather than in your car like a tramp" He smirked, pleased with himself for realising that I was stuck here. Or so he thought._

_"If I'm such an inconvenience to you, I can just leave" I said while grabbing my bag from the floor. "It's not as if I'm refusing to sleep in my car tonight, you're the one that dragged me here remember" I added while walking towards the door. I didn't even make it halfway before Aiden was on his feet and blocking my path. With both hands on my shoulders and a look on his face of what can on be described as a plea for forgiveness, I lost my train of thought from staring into his eyes. It was as if all the negative thoughts floating about my mind just drifted away. No more anger, no more frustration, it was just him._

_"Don't go" He said, barely above a whisper. With those two words uttered, it was as if I lost control of my limbs. I dropped my bag onto the floor and nodded my head ever so slightly, not being able to disagree with him. I hate how easily I melt because of him, not that I could manage to pluck up the energy to fight it. _

_He moved his hands from my shoulders, wrapping an arm around my waist and lifting the other so the back of his hand could softly caress my face. My hands moved on their own accord, clasped together behind his neck, my arms resting on his broad shoulders. I could tell where this was going, and I knew it was the wrong way to go about starting into his explanation into the recent series of odd events. Our faces were mere millimetres apart, and I couldn't take my eyes away from his. His lips parted ever so slightly, I could feel his sweet breath on my face. He glanced down at my lips briefly before restoring the eye contact, and ever so gently grazed his lips against my own. He kept doing so, still looking straight into my eyes, and if he was waiting for some sort of response from me so he could go further. Against my wishes my body betrayed me, and my lips responded on their own accord, slightly increasing the pressure of Aiden's. He brought his body closer to mine, pressing up against me, and moving an arm down round my waist with the other. Just as his tongue tried to join in on our lip fest, as if to deepen the kiss, it felt like I had woken up from his spell, I stopped any further movement removing my lips from his. _

_"No" I was just about able to whisper, shaking my head slightly. I pressed my lips against his once more, unable to resist. "I can't." I said, slightly louder than before. Resting my forehead against his, and moving my arms to allow me to rest my hands on his shoulders, while maintaining eye contact. I could see the disappointment on his face, as he nodded in agreement. After all, we had a lot to talk about still. _

_He sighed, as he loosened his grip, keeping his hands on my waist for longer than he needed to. I took a step back, dropping my bag on the floor again before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath in an attempt to clear my head. I looked towards him once more to find him on the same bed as before, with his head in hands._

_"I didn't think this was going to be a complicated explanation. I figured you were exaggerating, but you're worrying me now. What is it?" I asked, sitting on the bed opposite. I almost copied his posture, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees and hands clasped together in front of me. "Aiden?" I questioned, wondering whether he was listening to me or not. He looked up avoiding eye contact, and ran a hand through his messy quiff before dropping his hands and letting them rest close to my own. _

_"If only it was as simple as everyone else thinks. There's so much you need to know, I can't get my head straight. This is so frustrating!" He replied, his irritation clear. _

_"It can't be that bad, I'm sure your just being dramatic. How's about I just tell you how my days been? Just while you get your thoughts together, stop me whenever you like" I suggested, hoping to at least get the ball rolling. With his hands taking hold of my own, I launched into my rather abnormal day. _

_I rhymed off all the events and happenings of my day, even the parts he knew about, purely for something to talk about while he was trying to wrap his head around whatever I'd been dragged here to be told about. He sat silently, not even making any sort of motion to let me know he was listening. When I finally finished saying anything and everything that my day so far had consisted of, I'd ran out of things to rant about to fill the somewhat awkward silence we were sat in. So, I sat up straight, stretching my back and releasing my hands from Aiden's grip. _

_"Aiden, you really don't seem that desperate to tell me this. Don't get me wrong, I can tell you think its some major news, but you're just wasting time here." I said honestly, moving to rest my back against the headboard of his bed, and increasing the distance between us. He still hadn't moved. "Look, I'm not getting annoyed for you dragging this out, and I'm grateful for you not forcing me to sleep in my car right now. Just tell me what all this is about, please?" I added, with my worry and aggravation building slightly._

_"I need a smoke" He said after an elongated silence, "Don't go anywhere". And within seconds he was up and out the door, phone in hand and unlit cigarette in his mouth._

_With the door slamming shut behind him I was left on my own, in strangers hotel room with nothing to do. So, I went back to my original plan of sleeping in the car and grabbed my bag off the floor, checked I still had my phone and walked out of the room. I made it back to the reception before realising that sleeping in my car would mean leaving the hotel, and thus fighting my way back through the screaming crowd outside. Except this time I won't have Aiden's help. I ran a hand through my long fair hair in frustration, and opted to sit in the now shut restaurant to pluck up the courage to leave the hotel. I chose to sit at one of the larger tables away from the door, and lifted out my iPod to try and clear my thoughts._

_I'd been sitting for about 20 minutes going by the number of songs I'd managed to get through, avoiding the playlist I had on in the car obviously, before I wasn't the only person in the room. Two fellas had wandered in, laughing amongst themselves, not noticing they had me as company. The two of them, although relatively similar in height, had quite an age gap between them. One of them seemed to be nearing his thirties with short dark hair, while the other looked to be around my age with longer, messy light brown hair. I took one ear phone out and lowered the volume of the current song in order to listen in on what they were sniggering about, my curiosity getting the better of me._

_While trying to piece together the scrap bits of information I was able to over hear about some fella they knew having girl trouble, realisation hit me that I knew both of their faces. I'm awful at piecing together names with faces; to be honest I could walk past my own mother in the street and struggle to remember where I knew her from. As the cogs started turning in my mind, attempting to click with where I knew these two people from, one of them turned in my direction in mid chuckle. He looked back towards his friend before facing my way again in realisation that they weren't alone. He elbowed the bloke beside him, and he too turned in my direction, his laughter faltering. I smiled weakly at them, taking the remaining ear phone out and turning my iPod off. They exchanged a look of confusion as I looked up, bag in hand ready to get up and leave, they were making their way towards me. Slight panic began to set in, with my mind still trying to figure out how they both looked so familiar to me._

_"Sorry love, everyone's already away. No ones planning on meeting anymore fans tonight." The older one said, as they reached the table I was sat at, and stood behind the two chairs opposite me. Confusion spread over my face, did they just say fans?_

_"I'm trying to avoid someone actually. Well I say avoid, more figure out how to get out of here without having to battle my way through the mob outside." I said with my confusion and panic causing me to ramble a bit. "But, I cant say I know who you are, never mind being part of a fanbase…" I added, eyebrows knitting together while still trying to place their faces._

_"That old trick ain't gonna work with us babe; we've had all sorts of excuses from girl trying to get up close and personal. Hell, we've even had to fight off a couple of lads!" The younger one spoke, folding his tanned arms across his chest as if to highlight his overconfidence._

_"I'm not trying to pull any sort of scam here, honestly. I don't even know where I'm supposed to recognise you two from" I replied. "I just want to get out of here and at least get some sleep tonight, even if it will be in my car" I finished, tightening my grip on my bag as I stood up from my chair. _

_"Wait, wait, wait, wait, you seriously don't know who **I** am?" The younger one said, shock in his tone. "This has to be total lies, everyone knows who we are dude!" He said, elbowing the older guy again. "Bet you Harry's been picking up strange birds again!" He laughed._

_"Don't be a douche; there are more important things than getting your 15 minutes of fame you know." The older one cut in, curiosity in his eyes as he looked me over. _

_ "So, if you're not a fan. Then what's your story? If you don't mind spilling your business to a couple of total strangers" He added, before gesturing for me to sit back down and then seating himself. I dropped my bag on the floor, and slowly sat back down, my confusion not letting up in any way. _

_"After the past couple of days I've had, talking to a couple of strange fellas isn't as odd as it sounds." I replied, "Well as with most stories you here about nowadays, it all started with a drunken night out. See, I was having trouble getting rid of this creep of a bloke that wouldn't get the hint that I was in no way interested. So, I grabbed the nearest half decent looking guy and got him to help me." I summarised, skipping certain details so I wouldn't have to give away my entire life story. "And since then Aiden's not left me alone-"_

_"Hold up a minute" the younger guy cut in, sitting himself down finally, and leaning across the table, as my story was apparently increasing in interest. "You're trying to escape from Aiden? As in 'Aiden Fucking Grimshaw'?" He questioned, making sure the older fella was on the same page as he was before turned back to me and awaiting a response. I nodded slowly not understanding the big deal he was making. "I've got two words for you dear: Bull and Shit" He added, before leaning back in his chair and folding his arms once again._

_"How is this bull shit? For all I know you could be the one bullshitting me, pretending to be famous and such!" I retaliated, angrier than I wanted to be. _

_"Ok, ok. I think we all need to calm down a bit here", the older guy said. "First off, I think introductions are in order, seeing as we seem to have forgotten this earlier. I'm Matt Cardle and this is Louis Tomlinson. And I wouldn't quite say we're famous, but we are X Factor contestants" He added, shushing Louis' protests about being a celebrity._

_"Nice to meet you, I'm Robyn" I replied, shaking the hand Matt had raised and choosing to ignore Louis who was now huffing. "So you're actually off the telly then? You're beffers with Simon Cowell and all that lot?" I questioned, curiosity getting the better of me._

_"Well yea, can't expect us to be his next big money makers without being fake best friends with uncle Simon. Hell even your guy -" Louis grumbled before Matt cut him off. Louis merely rolled his eyes at my apparent lack of reality TV show knowledge._

_"-Lets not get ahead of ourselves; we're trying to figure out if you're some sort of psycho fan here remember?" Matt injected shooting look at Louis, "So why exactly are you trying to get away from Aiden?" He questioned. And yet again, I started into the story so far of Aiden and I, choosing to include all of the details to save myself for even more confusion. _

_I sighed and sat back in my chair once I'd finally explained why I was sitting in hotel full of people off of the telly without actually realising it. What didn't quite add up to me though was the hotel was supposed to be only putting up x factor contestants and the crew members. What the hell was Aiden doing here? Matt was smiling to himself, as if piecing together two sides of the same story. Louis on the other hand was bored out of tree and currently flicking through my iPod. _

_"Here, if you seriously don't know how we all are then how come you have an 'X Factor 2010' playlist on here?" Louis asked, showing Matt and I the screen as if to prove he was asking a valid question._

_"A friend made it for me, its not just you lot though. There's some random fella on there that I can't for the life of me figure out who. Has an amazing voice though." I stated, beginning to calm slightly now that I'm not being judged as a crazed fan._

_"Hm, nope! Everyone on here's from our all right. Not all songs performed on the show, but the same singers definitely" Louis added, ear phone in, checking each song._

_"Seriously, there's one that can't have been on the show. Here, givus!" I said, before grabbing the iPod off of Louis, pulling the ear phones out and playing the 'Perfect Stranger' cover on the loud speaker. The two guys I was sat opposite shared a knowing glance at the other. They weren't telling me something, something big. The look on their faces was the picture of emotion Aiden had when he first heard this song in me car earlier. "What?" I asked, not liking being out of the loop yet again._

_"You honestly want to know?" Louis invited._

_"It's not our secret to tell dude, let him do it himself" Matt interjected._

_"Pfft, if he hasn't told her by now and she hasn't figured it out yet, I say we tell her. She's obviously not that bright" Louis replied, "No offense" he added looking at me._

_They continued to argue amongst themselves. I turned my iPod off again, putting it away, and found my phone sitting in my bag with several missed calls from a number I wasn't familiar with. I straight away figured that Stevie has been trying to pester me again; I opted to ignore the calls and left my phone on the table while trying to catch up on the argument what was unfolding in front of me. _

_"Just leave it Louis, they'll talk about when they think they need to, she's just told us she's trying to get away from him! Why ruin it even more now?" Matt questioned, raising his voice slightly. My phone started buzzing again, the same number flashing on the screen. I lifted it, pressing the green answer button as I held it up against my ear._

_"Why should I?" Louis retaliated, "He's hasn't got the balls to confess, and she won't care either way! And what's the whole big deal? So what the fella she's falling for is from X Factor? She's trying to get away from him remember!" Louis shouted back. I sat phone up to my ear, unable to make out the words being said due to being frozen in thought._

_There was no way in hell Aiden could be famous, could he?_


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Ok, so here's the next part! **_Finally!_** Sorry its taking me ages to update, manages to upload all my already written chapters so I'm down to making it up as I go along now. If you're reading, feel free to drop me a wee review. I'd love you forever! Anyways, enjoy! :)

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><p>I turned in his bed, staring at his sleeping form instead of the ceiling. I don't understand why he didn't just tell me sooner. I mean I get that he wouldn't want to be getting close to people to find out they're just using him, but he made it out to seem a hell of a lot worse that it really is. Not that I really know what genuine drama is, only days ago the height of excitement was planning a night out with some friends. Compared to Aiden's lifestyle, that was nothing.<p>

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><p><em>This just didn't add up right. He was just a normal bloke. Well, if there is such a thing as a normal bloke that is. As long as you ignore the fact that he's totally fit, has an amazing personality, and seems to be into me. And apart from the whole lies and stalking thing that is. Ok, so that's really not common behaviour in fellas I know. Then again, my life wasn't exactly on a normal road right now. I mean, how many people can say they've sat in front of two of biggest 'up and coming' acts from the latest xFactor and managed to act completely sane. Granted, I didn't even know who they were at first. But still!<em>

_As I continued to repeat Louis' voice over and over in my head, struggling to determine whether or not he was telling me the truth or not, I realised I had just answered my phone…_

_"Hello? Robyn, it's me. Are you there?" His voice, the only thing that could've caught my attention while suffering from what I pretty sure is called shock. Only Aiden could pull me out of such intense thoughts. "Babe, seriously, I know you're pissed but I needed to clear my head. I promise this whole thing isn't as bad as I'm dragging it out to be. Well, it could, it just depends on how exactly you'll cope with the news. But this isn't a conversation I'd like to be having over the phone. I know what I need to tell you, the exact words and all, it just has to be face to face. You don't even have to come back to my room, I'll find you. So, where exactly did you run off to?" He ranted, his nerves clearly building._

_During the pause of him waiting for my answer, he managed to over hear the continuing argument between Matt and Louis. This was mostly due to the fact that they had lost control of their internal volume buttons, but my inability to move due to my shock and confusion was a slight problem. I didn't quite grasp what exactly he heard, but it seems to be enough for him to panic about my location even more._

_"Shit, stay exactly where you are! Don't listen to **anything** you hear from whoever you're with. I'll be there as soon as I figure out where 'there' is" He half shouted, before hanging up. I managed to get a grip on my surroundings as the beeping from my phone interrupted my thoughts. I hit the end call button, set the BlackBerry on the table, and tried to catch up with the scene happening in front of me. Needless to say I failed immensely, and just as I was about to try and get a word in I was interrupted. _

_"Hold up a sec!" the disrupter shouted. I looked up to find Aiden jogging towards the table we were sat at, "Care to fill me in on this little domestic?" Aiden smiled while trying to slow down his heavy breathing. He must have been running about the hotel trying to find me, 'cause I'm pretty sure that just jogging across a hotel restaurant is nowhere near enough exercise to tire him out._

_The two fellas already sitting down stopped their disputing, and looked shocked to find the subject of their argument pulling out a chair beside me. _

_"Well, any chance of you catching me up? Seeing I am the person you're talking about. I expect gossip from the rest of the girls, as well as the press, but you lot? Never" Aiden commented, clearly not amused, while Matt and Louis looked as if they'd been caught stealing out of the sweetie jar. "I've told you about this in **confidence**, arguing about it in a hotel where anyone can walk in and listen to isn't exactly what I planned on you doing with this information!" He finished, maintaining an indoor volume level. _

_"Hold up a second here! You've told them about me?" I said, finally finding my voice. "When, and why? And what the hell else have I not been told about?" I questioned, still being ignored. Although Aiden seemed to think that resting a hand on my leg beneath the table was enough attention for me to shush._

_They launched into some heated conversation about the weekend, while I was ignored yet again. Each were pointing and waving their hands about, so I didn't even have the comfort of Aiden touch to keep me calm._

_"OI! Fucking wait a minute! Someone tell me what the hell is going on here! You can't expect me to sit here all fucking night being totally out of the loop while you lot shout and scream about whatever the hell I've been dragged here for in the first place" I yelled, my patience snapping finally. Not that it helped at all._

_"We will fill you in, first I just need to figure out what the hell is going on in these to douches heads. I swear, I'll tell you everything soon" Aiden smiled at me, his apparent cheeriness was obviously faked though as his eyes still showed nothing but grief and stress from this whole episode. Needless to say that it was an unfulfilled attempt to keep me sweet enough to clear up what ever mess I was clearly not being filled in on. _

_I probably should've paid more attention to what was being yelled earlier, there's no way I'm going to be told about this drama now, unlike Aiden's promise. Annoyance building in me yet again and I was either going to punch whoever was closest or storm out being unnoticed. Seeing as Aiden was sat next to me and even with the anger pulsating through my system, I couldn't bring myself to damage his almost perfect face. So that left the latter. _

_They didn't even notice me leave, I managed to get to the door before they realised there was one less person at the table. Not that I looked back the yelling stopped for a brief moment before starting up again; probably over who was to blame. I was half way through reception heading towards the street before I heard footsteps behind me; I turned expecting to have Aiden standing there but Matt jogging over. I rolled my eyes and continued on my way out. Well, I tried to but there was a hand on my shoulder stopping me. I sighed, and turned again with my arms folded waiting for some sort of sop story._

_He said nothing, just had this look of concern on his face. This was one I was definitely getting sick of looking at. I shrugged him off, and continued on my path. He must've used up all his words arguing with Aiden and Louis, because it took him a while to catch up to me again. I made it to the door this time, the mob of people outside started to notice and the few paparazzi left had the cameras flashing already. I don't remember there being cameras earlier, I really must have been under **his** influence. While being confused and preoccupied with the large crowd blocking my way out, I was spun around and wrapped in someone's arms, and not a pair I recognised. I struggled against their grip, failing miserably may I add, before giving up and waiting for them to let go of me. He didn't bother though, decided that talking to me in this awkward stance was a better time as any._

_"I know you're probably freaking out with all this drama going on and we all have excuses and apologies to give. We won't say anything to you until you say the orders, seeing as you're sick of all the stress you're surrounded by. But, don't go. You can't sleep in your car, and we're attracting enough attention out here as it is. I'd offer you to sleep on my bed, but seeing as Aiden was opting to use that to let you sleep on his, I'd say that's already been mentioned." Matt rambled, rubbing my back and finally letting me go. I took a step back from him, getting closer to the exit._

_"I've been sitting there for goodness knows how long waiting for you lot to start explaining! Do I need to write it in florescent letters across my tits or something to get noticed now?" I exclaimed. "And seeing as you're the only one to come out to try and get me back, I'd say your times up. So I'm leaving, I don't know why I even care any more" I finished, before turning away and managing to get out the door this time. The crowd was louder than I was expecting. I started trying to push my way through but they were having none of it. That's when bloke number two decided to make an appearance. If these people were who they are claiming to be, I bet the press is going to love this…_

_The screaming got louder, that's how I noticed someone else had made an exit. My curiosity got the better of me, and I turned to find Louis trying to fight off fans and get my attention. Needless to say, I ignored his struggles and continued with my own. That's when he started to shout, rather loud in fact. And in turn, the mob I was currently in the middle of quietened down and stopped thrashing me about, the flashing of cameras didn't slow though. I couldn't get any further away, and Louis was only able to get closer to me. Accepting this minor pit of defeat, I sighed and rubbed my forehead with the tips of my fingers waiting for a headache to arrive with the nattering of the next apparent celebrity's ramblings. But like Matt, he just stood there with the same look of concern on his face. I couldn't take this anymore, and what delight the press will come to when they have the last 3 days worth of insane drama from my life screamed at some member of a 'not quite made it' boy band from the telly._

_"WHAT? What do you want? I've tried to say my piece, I've even sat quietly like a nice polite little girl waiting for my turn to speak while you all yell, scream and swear at each other. I can't take this bullshit any more, if you cared about it all like you claim to, why aren't you fighting harder for me to come back? Don't even try to sugar coat it, or tell me some shit ass story about how you do care, in some weird way. I'm fed up with it all! Just leave me alone to get on with my sad little life while I try to gather what non existent friends I have left all thanks to **him**!" I bawled at him, the tears beginning to stream down my face while he still just stood there with the same expression. The flashes still going, and most of the crowd now standing videoing my breakdown. I need to get out of here! I turned away from him, trying to spot a way out of the middle of the crowd, struggling to see due to the tears continuously welling up. I ran a hand through my hair in pent up frustration and shutting my eyes out of sheer annoyance at everything going wrong. _

_That's when Louis finally decided the public had had enough of me being insane and simply took hold of the hand that was tugging at my hair. I tugged my hand away repeating the action of pulling at my hair and tried once again to get out of the centre of attention. He grabbed my waist this time, tugging me close to him._

_"Not here, please" Louis whispered in my ear, not leaving me time to respond, as he stepped back before he grabbed my hand and gently dragged me back into the hotel and away from reception. We walked to the lifts, heading up to the same floor as Aiden did the first time I was in here._

_Louis stayed quiet as we travelled, leaning against the back corner of the lift with his arms folded at eyes staring at the lit up number on the panel beside the door. He was probably scared of starting me off on another bawling match. I had a quick glance at myself in the mirror that took up the entire back wall of the elevator and shuddered in repulsion as I noticed how awful I now looked. My hair was a right state, my make up in streaks down my face. The one time I don't wear waterproof mascara! In a panic, I tried to comb out the birds nest that once was my hair with my fingers, and used the sleeves of my over sized cardigan to try to wipe away the black smudges on my face. _

_When the doors opened Louis led me down the corridor towards what I was guessing to be the same room I escaped from earlier. He knocked on the door, stood aside and gave a slight apologetic smile before the door opened and there stood Matt with the same look on his face that I was getting increasingly sick of. He stood back, opening the door further and allowing enough room for the two of us to walk in. I only managed to take a couple of steps into the room before I became momentarily frozen at the sight of Aiden sprawled on his back on top of one of the beds. Even with an arm covering his face, I could still tell he was almost as upset about his whole mess as I was. _

_I shook my head slightly, trying to force myself to focus, and turned to where Matt was standing to find him gone, and he door closed. I guess they think Aiden and I need to talk more than they realised earlier. I almost turned and walked back out again. The temptation to return to what ever was left of my normal life was strong. Getting lost in my thoughts about the benefits of leaving and pretending none of this ever happened, I didn't notice Aiden had moved. I jumped slightly as he took hold of my hand, and with his touch a new sense of determination boiled within me. No matter what happens now, no matter what he's going to tell me, I'm not leaving without a proper explanation. _

_With a new strength building inside me, I removed my hand from his and pushed him onto the bed he was just on, forcing him to sit down. I dropped my bag and sat on the bed opposite, while he sat with a rather surprisingly look of calmness on his gorgeous face._

_"You have **a lot** of explaining to do" I stated with sternness clear in my tone as I prompted him to finally tell his story I'd been waiting so long to hear._

_"I know I do, I've managed to make things even more complicated purely 'cause I didn't want to tell you one silly little thing about me when we first met." He said softly, running a hand through his now floppy quiff. "First off, mind if I ask what exactly Matt and Louis were talking to you about?" He said, with a slightly hopeful smile on his face. I replied with a blank stare, my stubbornness showing through clearly. He then looked down at his hands and continued. "Ok, How's about I just spit it out then? You'd think it'd be easy enough, it's been on the tip of my tongue ever since Saturday night." He laughed slightly before quickly turning very serious, still not looking at me_

_"Anyway, I'm guessing you've noticed who Matt and Louis are, and that I have something to do with the work they're doing at the minute?" He questioned rhetorically. Well I'm guessing it was rhetorical seeing as he didn't leave me enough time to answer, a glance in my direction a small nod of my head and he was talking again. "You should know that I'm not just part of the crew" He said, not continuing on with his explanation._

_It was now that he looked up at me, as if trying to figure out if I'd made the link yet. I mean I knew after the talk, if you can all it that, with Matt and Louis that it'd have to be something to do with the xFactor. I'd just guessed that he was working behind the scenes, or maybe even he was just being brought along by them as friends. As the cogs in my head started turning yet again, confusion building far more than I would like he finally decided to finish his story. This time however, direct eye contact was maintained._

_"__I'm one of the acts __" He said, before sighing loudly and running another hand through his hair before reaching out to take hold of my hand. "__Robyn, I was a finalist on this years xFactor__" He finished. My eyebrows furrowed together, I heard what he said, but it just didn't compute in my mind. With total confusion no doubt plastered on my face, he took hold of my hands and brought his face closer to mine. "Robyn? Are you OK?" He asked, his voice full of the concern I was oh so sick of hearing. But as the cogs in my head started slowing down and making sense of the words he just said I was only able to say one thing; the one question that would rattle around my head for decades if I didn't come out with it. Even after all the scenarios that I thought of, this didn't even come close._

_"Why the hell didn't you just tell me?"_


	14. Chapter 14

Here is part 14! FINALLY! Sorry it keeps taking me AGESS to up date, but with being on my placement year for uni & the nightmare that is family currently pestering me I haven't had much free time. But enough of that, I hate making excuses! Feel free to give some feedback, good bad or indifferent, I'm not being fussy about your opinions :) Oh & if you haven't read the altered first chapter feel free to tell me what you think!

Enjoy!

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><p>RECAP:<p>

I can't wrap my head around it all. I'm lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. I couldn't help but wonder how I managed to get myself into this situation in the first place; I mean I've never exactly been the kind of girl to even meet up with a fella, never mind get this far. Although, being practically stalked by said bloke, as well as arguing with my closest friends, and being locked out by my housemate may have influenced me somewhat into my current predicament. I was uselessly willing myself to stop going over the past couple of hours again and again in my head. As I was becoming increasingly annoyed with myself for not being able to block out any thoughts of _him_, my mind automatically drifted back to mere hours ago and the reason Aiden was wanting to talk to me in the first place.

I turned in his bed, staring at his sleeping form instead of the ceiling. I don't understand why he didn't just tell me sooner. I mean I get that he wouldn't want to be getting close to people to find out they're just using him, but he made it out to seem a hell of a lot worse that it really is. Not that I really know what genuine drama is, only days ago the height of excitement was planning a night out with some friends. Compared to Aiden's lifestyle, that was nothing.

_"Robyn," He said, before sighing loudly and running another hand through his hair. "I'm one of the acts" He finished. My eyebrows furrowed together, I heard what he said, but it just didn't compute in my mind. With total confusion no doubt plastered on my face, he took hold of my hands and brought his face closer to mine. "Robyn? Are you ok?" He asked, his voice full of the concern I was oh so sick of hearing. But as the cogs in my head started slowing down and making sense of the words he just said I was only able to say one thing; the one question that would rattle around my head for decades if I didn't come out with it. Even after all the scenarios that I thought of, this didn't even come close. _

_"Why the hell didn't you just tell me?"_

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><p><em>"Excuse me?" He questioned with confusion clear on his face, instead of mine for a change.<em>

_"What took you so long to let me know? It took Matt and Louis minutes to explain who they were and I didn't freak out. So how come you made me stress over this major secret you had?" I said, trying to explain my confusion to him. It went unheard though, as told by the blank expression on my face._

_"One more time?" He asked, concentration building in the look in his eyes._

_"So what you're from some TV show? I mean, I get that you're being a major sceptic about everyone you don't know just in case they're using you to get they're 15 minutes of fame while they have the chance. And who wouldn't, I'd totally freak out if tonnes of people I didn't know knew me. But seeing as I didn't even recognise you the other night, why keep it from me for this long?" I explained in a lot more words than I should have used._

_"So you're not pissed? Or shocked? Or planning your exit strategy?" He asked, not fully understanding the situation that was going on._

_"No, not at all! Why would I be? Well I have to admit I'm a little shocked, who sees this kind of news coming? But I'm fine, honestly" I smiled, squeezing the hand that he still had holding mine for reassurance._

_"And you're sure you're ok with this?" He added, still not able to grasp my overly calm reaction to his news._

_"Yes!" I laughed, "Now quit it with the slow response time dear, that's my specialty not yours" I joked._

_He shook his head while running a hand through his hair in an attempt to get his head round the situation. "Ok, back to reality!" He said, chuckling slightly while removing his hand from mine and standing up. "Are you hungry? I'm starving! We can get food ordered if you want? Is that the time? Blimey you'd think we'd been here ages from all the drama that's gone on. Are you tired? I can leave you to sleep if you want", he babbled while pacing between the door and the window._

_"Aiden" I said while standing up at blocking his path, "Calm down. Honestly, there's no need to start panicking. If anyone's supposed to be doing that I'm pretty sure it's me, seeing as I'm the one the 'big secret's' been revealed to, but you don't see me ready to pull my hair out. So breathe sweetie, I'm fine see?" I said calmly before lifting his hand to my face to highlight how composed and non-stressed I was compared to him. _

_"Ok, right, I'm good. I'm calm. I can totally do this." He said, "Hi."_

_"Hello" I laughed, "there's no need to re introduce yourself dear, I know who you are now, remember?"_

_"Oh yea" he chuckled, "oops. Now about the food I mentioned? I'm seriously hungry here."_

_"There's a bag full of junk food in Herbert… But I'm not going to go back out to that mob of screamers outside. Twice is more than enough for today!" I laughed again, stepping away from him and sitting back down on the bed._

_"Twice…?" Aiden repeated, confusion building on his face again as he sat down opposite me taking the same posture as before._

_"Yea, I walked through it with you to get in here. Then half way out again when Louis, Matt and you were ignoring me earlier. I may have had a slight break down in front of everyone when Louis followed me to bring me back; pretty sure I've been filmed. No big deal though." I rambled slightly before finishing with a smile._

_"Are you serious? Why didn't you do something? Or even tell me? Christ, the papers are going to be all over this in the morning." Aiden started rambling and resuming his pacing from previously._

_"I fucking did! Screamed and clattered and all sorts, I may as well have flashed my tits at you lot and I'm sure you still wouldn't have noticed!" I ranted back, getting annoyed at this ridiculous situation somehow being my fault now. "Oh, and its nice to know that you not telling me your supposed to be famous or whatever is my fault your going to get some bad press! Especially seeing as you won't be published as the crazy xfactor slut" I snapped at him._

_"What the hell are you talking about? You did nothing to get my attention, and if you'd actually watch some bloody TV every now and then I wouldn't have had to tell you who I am!" He yelled, stopping in his tracks to highlight his frustration._

_"Right, of course I'm the one with issues. Makes perfect sense seeing as I'm not the one that got booted off stupid reality TV show! And for the record, I do watch TV, I knew who Matt and Louis were straight away. Maybe if you sang a bit better you wouldn't have this problem" I shot back at him, standing up to face him._

_"There is nothing wrong with my singing! And the only problem I have is there's some insane girl screaming at me in my own fucking hotel room!" He snapped, failing his arms in the air as if it counted towards his anger._

_"Thousands of people can't be wrong, I'm sure you got kicked off for a reason! I haven't even heard you sing and now I'm sure you're shit!" I screamed, "By the way, I'm not crazy. You're the one that's been stalking me since Saturday and befriending gorillas like Stevie for fuck sake!" I added, taking a step closer to highlight my point._

_"I'm not the one that knew him in the first fucking place, am I? Not my fault you could've been some crazy fan trying to trick me into doing who knows what to get you your 15 minutes of fame! For all I knew, he could've been warning me away from you!" He ranted back at me, beginning to pace across the room again before turning back and walking right up to me, face inches away from mine with anger and frustration blazing in his eyes. "And you wouldn't be saying that if you knew who sang that bloody song you've been obsessed with today!" He yelled, pushing his face even closer to mine then beginning his pacing while maintaining the same enraged eye contact._

_I opened my mouth to scream back at him but the words caught in my throat. I stopped and took a couple of steps back. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I questioned, my voice only above a whisper compared to the volume before._

_"I-… Nothing, forget about it" he almost stammered, breaking our eye contact and opting to tidy the contents of the hotel room rather than resume our rather loud and fury filled conversation._

_"No!" I shouted, gaining back the rage I lost from the shock and confusion of his last outburst. I stormed over to where he was now rearranging the clothing piled on the floor, dragging him up from where he was kneeling on the floor so we were face to face once more, with nothing but pure aggravation in my eyes before saying quietly and calmly. "You do not get to keep lying to me about every little thing that everyone else knows about you while you try and keep up some sort of perfect stranger routine with me! That's not how this works! It's not how life works! So you either start spilling your guts here or I swear to God I'm walking away without even thinking about looking back!"_

_"Look, I'm sorry for shouting. Things are just a bit stressful at the minute," Aiden started while leading us over to one of the beds to sit on before starting to list and explain every little thing he's been stressing and worrying over. It's all a lot of things there's no point in fretting over, even if it is easier for me to say, but its just wasted efforts panicking over things you have absolutely no control over. All this was said to be with no eye contact and only the touch of his hand holding mine to make sure he was even still aware of my presence. Even then, I'm sure the hand holding was to comfort him more than me. _

_With me being my usual socially awkward self, I could only muster up half sentences and the occasional 'oh dear' or 'that sounds awful'. All had absolutely no help in comforting the emotionally and physically drained newly famous fella I was sharing a hotel room with tonight who'd just spent the past hour or so spilling his guts to some random stranger he found in a club a few days ago. But it's the best I could do without slapping him and screaming for him to pull himself together. _

* * *

><p>And that's how I ended up being in his bed in his hotel room tossing and turning at 5 o clock in the morning without having a single wink of sleep the whole night. Most girls may think it could be at the mere fact that I was sleeping in his hotel room, but they're probably more clued in to who he actually is than I am, or was should I say?<p>

I sighed at rolled over yet again, moving away from his side of the bed to try and clear my head even though it didn't work the first 5 times. We both ended up sleeping on his bed, seeing as no conversation occurred after his slight breakdown. Well none other than the loud whispering coming from Matt when he tried to sneak in a couple of hours ago thinking we'd be sleeping, at least Aiden was.

After an excruciatingly long hour later I'd given up on all chances of sleeping. I'd gone for listening to my iPod and stalking folk on social networking sites instead. I'd spent about an hour scrolling through tweets and posts not picking up on anything in particular until I realised I had notifications. Nothing special on FaceBook just the usual requests and annoying game invitations, but it was Twitter that caught my attention, seeing as I'm usually as popular as solar powered cars in Ireland, any sort of communication without having direct tweets for people to reply to on here was just plain odd. But it wasn't just any tweet; it was someone on a verified account. It was a certain famous someone who was currently sleeping in the bed beside Aiden's. How he even managed to find my twitter in the first place is beyond me, but it was just a link to a video.

I opted to ignore it for now, going to the bathroom with my iPod still plugged into my ears to attempt to freshen up seeing as I'd only pulled clothing off before going to sleep last night instead of my usual clockwork routine. I'd grabbed my bag on the way, before finding a brush to de-tangle my bird's nest of hair I was now sporting then scraping it back in what was supposed to be a bun. It was not a day to wear my hair down, especially with no dry shampoo available, even with the stupid amount of products in what was supposed to be a bloke's bathroom. I then scrubbed yesterdays make up off my face before using one of the men's moisturiser, to try to look less like a half dead panda. I resorted to only using mouth wash to clean my teeth seeing as I was without a tooth brush.

With that over with I was seriously running out of things to do to pass the time before the boys woke up. I flopped back onto the bed, lying beside Aiden once again getting lost in his sleeping face when my iPod decided to start playing the song he taunted me with last night, the only song to keep harassing me through this very odd relationship if you can call it that. As the voice of the mystery singer flowed through my earphones, I tore them out of my ears and flung the stupid piece of electronic equipment towards the corner of the room. Just as it landed with a louder thump than I was expecting, an even noisier knocking started on the door. I padded out of bed towards the door, my lack of sleep and the confusion of the night before hitting me as I opened the door to find a curly haired boy leaning on the door frame with an eye brow raised and a smirk on his face.

"Can I help you?" I asked, rubbing my face to try and waken myself up a bit.

"Oh don't mind me" he said with a huskier voice than his baby face would suggest, "I'm just enjoying the view." His smirk grew larger as he looked me up and down. It was at this point I realised what I'd opted to wear to sleep last night, so I now found myself standing in a skimpy vest top and a pair of knickers in a strange boys hotel room while someone who looks a lot like Harry Styles, or what ever his name is, ogles me at a stupidly early time of the morning. I stepped back to shut the door in his face, but he grabbed hold to keep it open before skipping over the apology to introduce himself as the ladies man of One Direction.

"What do you want?" I questioned, trying to stand half behind the door to cover myself up while getting rather annoyed at his attempt at conversation and having to stand half naked in front of some boy I don't know.

"We had to get up early for rehearsals, and I couldn't resist checking to see if the rumours were true." He replied, as if it was the simplest thing ever.

"What rumours? Why are you here?" I asked again, my lack of sleep not helping my increasing levels of confusion.

"Yes Harry, why are you here? I told you to leave it! Sorry Robyn, _some_ people just can't help sticking their nose into other peoples business!" Louis said, shooting a dirty look in Harry's direction while appearing out of a room down the hall.

"Leave what? Someone tell me what the hell is going on!" I demanded, frustration getting the better of me.

"Well every had heard that you were here, they didn't know if it was true and the curly haired creep over here decided to see for himself." Louis explained.

"That and see if Matt's plan had worked yet or not" Harry piped up, finally taking his eyes off me to glance at the two sleeping forms in the beds behind me.

"What plan?" Louis and I queried.

"Well after you lot had all faded at like midnight, and Aiden and goldilocks here had hijacked his room for the night, Matt and I conjured up a plan to speed up Aiden's explaining who he is actually is" He smiled, seeming to think this cleared up any of me questions.

"Don't make me ask again, for flip sake!" I exclaimed.

"We tweeted you… well Matt tweeted you. I figured you'd have seen it by now, unless you had a late night last night!" He winked; I chose to ignore his suggestion, while Louis went for a slap at the back of the head as punishment for his stupidity.

"I got a tweet from him earlier, have no idea how you found me on there though… and I didn't bother watching the link you sent. What was it?" I said, not bothering to add more questions in case I confused the poor boy.

"Oh, we have our sourced to find fitties like you babe, don't worry" He said with a wink that sent an uncomfortable shiver down my spine. "It was a video of him singing that Katy B cover Matt said you were obsessed over, we figured he wouldn't have told you that much and that things needed a bit more of a push-" Harry continued to explained, he kept on talking but I couldn't focus on the words coming out of his mouth. I couldn't think straight. I thought he told me everything last night; I was getting my head round him being famous thing that he thought to be a major issue. I could cope no problem with being flung into the lime light with him if that's the way things were going, as long as I had him I couldn't see a problem with it. But the fact that he knew too well that I was in love with the singer of the 'perfect stranger' cover and he said _nothing_ about it; the fact that everyone here knew and said nothing; the fact that he was the one person I was even considering to start a any sort of relationship with, to only have the realisation of how well known Aiden actually was to much to cope with.

I have to get out of here…


End file.
